Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1438

PIERRE CHARLES ALEXANDRE LOUIS (1787-1872) Recherches anatomico-pathologiques sur la phthisie. Gabon 1825 xxiv, 16, 560 pp. 20.7 cm.

One of the most influential figures in French medicine, Louis received his medical degree from the University of Paris in 1813. He practiced medicine for seventeen years in Russia but left to undertake further study after becoming distressed over the ineffectiveness of local measures taken to deal with a diphtheria epidemic. Returning to Paris, he embarked on the life-long study of the fatal diseases with particular emphasis on tuberculosis and typhoid fever. Working with a large number of patients, Louis collected detailed statistics on every case using the results as instruments of diagnosis and therapy. His reliance on the statistical analysis of disease, though sometimes faulty, helped put to rest the concept of a priori theories of medicine so pervasive at the time. This work on tuberculosis, which established Louis' reputation as a clinician, gives a numerical study of extrapulmonary lesions based on 358 dissections and 1,960 clinical cases.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 3221; Waller 6034 (2nd ed., 1843); Wellcome III, p. 551

Gift of John Martin, M.D.