Sciences, Médecine, Pharmacie de la Révolution à l'Empire (1789–1815)

Sciences, Medecine, Pharmacie de la Revolution d l'Empire (1789-1815), by PIERRE HUARD, with the collaboration of M. D. Grmek, Paris, Roger Dacosta, 1970, pp. 379, 154 plates (17 coloured), 130 NF. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic period that immediately followed it is the great watershed of modern history. To it may be traced not only many of the sweeping political and social changes of modern times but also many important developments in science and medicine. As Professor Shryock has said, Paris at that time was the scientific capital of the world, with regard to both ideas and technique. For decades philosophers and reformers had been investigating and reporting on the long-standing social evils of the old r6gime and formulating schemes of reform of scientific and medical education and of medical care. The revolutionaries brought these idealistic and often romantic plans from the pigeon holes where they were gathering dust and applied all their enthusiasm to their implementation. There were to be no more poor, no more charity, no more hospitals. Health was man's birthright and as the new society was developing under the serene light of the revolution man would regain his pristine health and the need for doctors would gradually wither away. By 1797 the utopian character of this ideology was apparent to all by its failure and in that year began the enforcement of new laws which gradually re-established the main structure of the old r6gime, purged of many of its evils. Embodied in the Code Napoleon it remained the basis of the outstanding achievements of French science and medicine in the first half of the nineteenth century. In his history of this critical period, Professor Huard has a vast field to cover, for he cannot omit the veritable galaxy of stars who appeared in these decades, from Lavoisier at the beginning, including Bichat, Larrey and Corvisart, to Laennec at the end. His decision to refer only briefly to the biographies of these well-known men in order to give adequate space to a crowd of secondary but significant figures whose careers are little known, even in France, was a wise one, for it has restored the balance which is inevitably distorted when only the leaders are given the whole stage to themselves. The text is well planned to cover systematically the general and special subject fields, but inevitably, for no work of this kind can be exhaustive, it provokes many ideas which are not developed and leaves many questions unanswered. But this is the chief value of such a history, for it maps out paths for future research and leads to new associations of ideas. A bibliography extending to twenty-four pages enhances the usefulness of the work, but the incomparable illustrations, carefully selected from original sources and most of them little known, make this volume a thing of beauty. The publishers-Roger Dacosta of Paris -have made the series in which the book appears remarkable for this special feature. The same author's Mille Ans de Chirurgie and La Chirurgie Moderne, which are companion volumes in the series, show the same very high level of production, notable for the superb quality of the colour plates. These are all books which many will decide they must have and keep on their own shelves. F. N. L. POYNTER