Drs. Chabrol and Corraze Reply

To the Editor: We thank Dr. Vandereycken for his savant comment. We agree with his crediting Charles Lasègue priority for his description of anorexia nervosa. Lasègue’s article was translated into English (1, 2) before the publication of Gull’s article on anorexia nervosa (3). Gull attempted to, and largely did, gain the attribution of the discovery of anorexia nervosa with mentioning his previous quotation of hysterical epepsia as a differential diagnosis for tuberculosis or organic gastrointestinal diseases in cases of severe weight loss (Vandereycken and van Deth, 1989). But the very term he used indicated that he attributed weight loss to the absence of digestion (apepsia) and not to a restrictive diet.