Robert Willan and the French Willanists

In 1798, Robert Willan published the founding textbook of British dermatolo gy. In adopting the elementary lesions principle previously described by Jo sef Plenck, and improving the nomenclature of the skin diseases, Willan est ablished a method for the diagnosis and a doctrine for the nosology of the cutaneous diseases. Introduced into France by Biett in the 1810s, the Willa nist method, which allowed diagnosis on the basis of objective criteria, wa s adopted by the majority of the dermatological community. However, as a do ctrine. Willanism, the use of elementary lesions as a framework for classif ying diseases, became the subject of lasting debate. In fact, apart from a few, most leading French dermatologists did not accept; Willan's doctrine a nd preferred classifications according to systems which were supposed to re flect the best understanding of the cutaneous diseases: physiological, aeti ological and pathological. Willanism is still used by every dermatologist a s a method for recognizing skin diseases. It constitutes a firm link to the founding period of modern dermatology and remains a bastion against uncert ain hypotheses.