A historical case of disseminated chronic tuberculosis.

A British author has put forward a new explanation for Joan of Arc's behaviour. This author suggests that the voices Joan of Arc heard were due to the presence of a temporal lobe tuberculoma in the context of widespread chronic tuberculosis (exposure to bovine tuberculosis, amenorrhoea, heart and intestines incombustible). We consider that some elements are incompatible with widespread tuberculosis. It is difficult to draw final conclusions, but it would seem unlikely that widespread tuberculosis, a serious disease, was present in this 'patient' whose life-style and activities would surely have been impossible had such a serious disease been present.