Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1565

JEAN BAPTISTE BOUILLAUD (1796-1881) Nouvelles recherches sur le rhumatisme articulaire aigu en général. Chez J.-B. Baillière 1836 [4] viii, 162 pp. 20.3 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1561

Bouillaud was a highly successful physician and was consulted by patients from all over Europe. He attended Napoleon III, treated Dupuytren (see No. 1323 ff.) in his final illness, and also performed the autopsy at Dupuytren's request. Among his many writings were works on encephalitis, medical nosography, cholera, the philosophy of clinical medicine, venous obstruction and dropsy, hermaphroditism, and the diagnosis and therapy for cancer. In the present work Bouillaud established the relationship of endocarditis and rheumatism when he noted that "The most recent point of view and the most curious of these researches is, without doubt, the coincidence of inflammation of the internal and external sero-fibrous tissues of the heart (rheumatoidal endocarditis and pericarditis), with acute articular rheumatism" (Translation from p. 2). Bouillaud reports on ninety-two observations of pericarditis or endocarditis in which he found that one third of the patients had an obvious history of acute rheumatic fever. His descriptions of clinical signs and pathology in acute rheumatic fever are very vivid, testifying to his excellence as a diagnostician. Bouillaud illustrates his treatment by describing several case histories in which he employed copious bleeding and the application of warm compresses and mercurial ointments over the affected joints.

See Related Record(s): 1323

Cited references: Wellcome II, p. 211 (Reprint)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.