ABSTRACT
ÉMILE VIDAL was born in Paris, June 18, 1825, received his medical training at Tours and Paris, completed it in 1855, and entitled his thesis Considerations on Chronic Progressive Rheumatism. After an early interest in general medicine and pediatrics, which he never completely lost, he took an appointment as physician to l’Hôpital Saint Louis in Paris in 1861, and profiting from his association with such men as Bazin, Hardy, and Laieller, soon acquired a service of his own. Vidal was a prolific writer on all aspects of dermatology, and was one of the earliest workers in cutaneous pathology. He was especially interested in lupus vulgaris and the lichens, being the first to bring real order to this difficult latter group. His studies culminated in the masterful work of his pupil Brocq on neurodermatitis circumscripta.
