Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1028

JEAN PIERRE DAVID (1737-1784) Recherches sur la manière d'agir de la saignée. Chez Vallat-La-Chapelle 1763 2nd ed. xxiv, 333 pp. 16.5 cm.

David began his medical studies in Lyons and completed his medical degree in Paris. He achieved the rank of master surgeon at Paris in 1764 and practiced there as well as in Lyons. During his career he served as lithotomist for the province of Normandy, was professor of chemistry and anatomy at the University of Rouen, and was also chief surgeon at the Hôtel Dieu in Rouen. Active in medical research, David was recognized by the Rouen Academy in 1765 for his studies into the mechanism of respiration. He was an active author and wrote a number of medical works as well as tracts on mechanics and astronomy. His Dissertation sur les effects du mouvement et du repos dans les maladies chirurgicales (Paris, 1779) was an important contribution to the early study of the effect of movement and rest on joint conditions. It also included a description of tuberculosis of the spine which rivals Pott's own account (see No. 930) of the disease published the same year. Bloodletting was still very popular and widely practiced during the eighteenth century and had many vocal adherents as well as detractors. David's treatise on the subject first appeared in 1762 and this second edition was published only a year later. Although, in reality, bloodletting is a harsh remedy, it is here extolled and the technique and beneficial effects in a variety of diseases are explained. David was a wise surgeon and included warm and cold baths, rest, and a sound diet as additional therapeutic elements.

See Related Record(s): 930

Cited references: Cushing D63; Waller 2306 (1st ed., 1762); Wellcome II, p. 434 (1st ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.