On 24 January 1816, J. Cruveilhier defended his doctoral thesis (Table 2), dedicated to his father Leonard and his master G. Dupuytren. Influenced by the works of M.-F.-X. Bichat and his friend R.-T. Laënnec, J. Cruveilhier showed his special interest in the study of the anatomical lesion [12]. Once he obtained his doctoral degree, J. Cruveilhier returned to Limoges to succeed his father. He married Jenny Grellet des Prades de Fleurelle (1801–1849), daughter of a notable banker from Limoges and the manager of l’hôpital Saint-Alexis. In October of that year, the prefect of the Haute-Vienne (France) asked him for a report about the major epidemic of typhoid fever, a disease that J. Cruveilhier called ‘enteromesenteric fever’ [15] while masterfully describing the anatomical lesions of the ileum. Between 1818 and 1821, he applied for the direction of the Childbirth Course of the Limoges Hospital and then for the charge of chief surgeon, without any success [11].

In 1823, he took the restored ‘Concours d’agrégation’ (competition for professorship) (Table 1) again under the guidance of his father and supported by G. Dupuytren, J. Cruveilhier was the first of the five promoted agrégés over the twenty-six candidates presented, among them being A. Velpeau. Following G. Dupuytren’s recommendation, J. Cruveilhier chose to be agrégé de médecine opératoire (professor of Surgical Medicine) in Montpellier, where he went in July 1824. Nevertheless, this place did not please him and J. Cruveilhier returned to his native town resolved to dedicate himself to the most unfortunate sick people. When everything was ready for this return to Limoges, P.A. Béclard (1785–1825) died. Thereafter, J. Cruveilhier received this message from G. Dupuytren: ‘Beclard passed away, come to Paris, you have a chance’ [11,13]. D.-A.-L. de Frayssinous, who was already Grand Maître de l’Université, also encouraged him to go to Paris to seat in the Chair of Anatomy left by P.A. Béclard. However, G. Breschet (1784–1845) and J. Cloquet also applied for this position. The designation of J. Cruveilhier was considered as an act of ministerial authority. J. Cruveilhier was received with hostility by the students when he presented at the grand amphithéâtre of the Faculty of Paris on 10 November 1825. His personality and sincere modesty quickly conquered his audience [12]. Thinking of his students, J. Cruveilhier began to compose his work Anatomie descriptive (see below). Among his partners in l’École pratique de dissection de Paris were E.-P.-M. Chassaignac (1804–1879), C.-L. Bonamy (1812–1887), P. Broca (1824–1880) [16,17,18] and the artist Emile Beau (1810–1872), who also assisted in drawing anatomical atlases by authors such as A.-L. Foville (1799–1878) and his Traité complet de l’anatomie, de la physiologie et de la pathologie du système nerveux cérébro-spinal (1844), which is regarded as one of the best works on the subject before the invention of the microscope [19].

In 1826, J. Cruveilhier was appointed chief physician of the hospitals of Paris, which was followed by his success in a series of clinical appointments until 1849. (Table 1). On 12 October 1826, he restored the ‘Société d’anatomie’, founded in 1803 by G. Dupuytren and dissolved in 1808 under the chairmanship of R.-T. Laënnec. J. Cruveilhier was its president until 1866 when G. Breschet was appointed [20].

In 1835 G. Dupuytren died. His last volition was to endow funding for the creation of the Chair of Pathological Anatomy of Paris, and designed his disciple J. Cruveilhier as its first holder. Appointment that he accepted. In 1836, G. Breschet succeeded J. Cruveilhier to the Chair of Anatomy at Paris University.

J. Cruveilhier’s professional life shared two culminations: a religious devotion to the sick and the development of a rigorously scientific career with many honours [12]. Along with his work at the Charité and Salpêtrière hospitals, he was involved in a very active clinical practice in Paris under the rules of a very strict ethic that he summarized in his speech Des devoirs et de la moralité du médecin (Table 2). J. Cruveilhier founded a charity to help humble people. He had significant customers, national and foreign, and from all social classes to whom he gave equal treatment. When he was invited to be the physician of Napoleon III (1807–1873), J. Cruveilhier answered ‘…qu’je le soignerait comme mes maladies d’hôpital’/’…I would take after him as I do with my patients at the hospital’. On a separate occasion, he was advised to make a courtesy visit to the emperor, and so he said: ‘…s’il n’est pas malade, ma visite est inutile’/’…if he is not sick, my visit is useless’. Cruveilhier’s attitude upset Napoleon III, who vetoed his election to the Institut de France [14].

In 1866, at the age of 75 and at the insistence of his family, he retired. He left Paris on 18 September 1870, a day before the siege of Paris by the Prussian forces and went to Sussac (Haute-Vienne, France) where he died of pneumonia on 7 March 1874. The funeral was held in the church where he had been baptized.

The scientific authority of J. Cruveilhier was widely recognized both in France and abroad. J. Cruveilhier’s academic career, distinctions, and prizes are shown in Table 1 (as collected from the Académie nationale de médecine [8]; Orcel and Vetter [11]; Androutsos and Vladimiros [12]; Vayre, [13] and Huard, [19]). The only lack in his brilliant career was not to become a member of the Institut de France due to the personal veto of Napoleon III [14].