Ordonnances de la Médécine humaine et veterinaire par ordre alphabetique. [Orders of human and veterinary medicine in alphabetical order]

[MEDICAL MANUSCRIPT] Ordonnances de la Médécine humaine et veterinaire par ordre alphabetique. [Orders of human and veterinary medicine in alphabetical order ] A. Betaille, 1777.

Notebook of a physician in rural, south-west France, containing the details of almost three hundred medical and veterinary conditions and their treatments. Arranged in alphabetical order, the medical ailments described and indexed include earache, rheumatism and frostbite, to melancholy, 'erotomanie', and sleepwalking. Treatments include leeches, warm compresses, purgatifs, quinine, and tisanes, among others. The manuscript, evidently well-used and repeatedly consulted, appears to have been compiled as an aide-memoire or reference book, presumably to be used on the hoof while attending patients (the 'hardy'-looking binding would suggest it was intended to be carried and handled). This individual has compiled a tailored reference work, combining his own notes with information selected and summarized from various medical compendiums seemingly over a period of several years. Those we have identified include the Nouveau Dictionnaire universel et raisonné de médecine, de chirurgie et de l'art vétérinaire (Paris, chez la veuve Duchesne, 1772); the French translation of William Buchan's seminal Domestic Medicine (Edinburgh, Balfour, 1769; translated into French in 1775) and Francois Rozier's Cours Complet d'Agriculture... (Paris, 1781-1800), as well as additional, supplementary notes of the writer's own at the rear of the volume. Portrait aside, there is little clue as to the identity or background of this manuscript's compiler, or, indeed, the degree to which they received formal medical training. Their knowledge of works of 'popular' medicine like that of Buchan does appear to be complemented by an awareness of more canonical, classical texts; the engravings of Galen and Hippocrates pasted to the verso of the title page look to have been removed from the titles of classical medical works, where these figures frequently appeared together.

Human conditions are described alongside animal conditions: cancer des animaux follows breast cancer; cattarhe in humans is followed by cattarhe in animals; chien (dog) comes straight after chemosis, eye infection; contagion is followed by contagion (vet.), degout by degout des chevaux, diarrhee by diarrhee (vet.) and so on. That this physician should practice both human and animal treatments indicates the relationship between medical and veterinary sciences in this period.

Also includes entries that relate to occupational health; under maladies des boulangers, bakers are advised to wash their faces with water and gargle with oxycrate, a mixture of water and vinegar, regularly to get rid of flour dust. Under maladies des gens de lettres, ailments affecting gentlemen of letters, is a note to advise those exhausted by their work to step away from their work and temporarily replace their studies with gaiety, repos, varied pleasures, and wine taken in small quantities. Also notable is the volume of entries dedicated to gynaecological health and pregnancy. While focusing more on associated medical conditions than surgical procedures and delivery, the presence of such conditions here -- from pregnancy, mastitis and post-partum care, to treating venereal disease -- indicates the shift that occurred in France and other parts of Europe in the eighteenth century, as this area of medicine moved from being solely the preserve of midwives and accoucheuses, to a recognised, and more formalised branch of medical care.

One section is entitled 'maniere de faire ces questions a' un adulte', and provides an instructive list of questions to ask a patient in order to take their history, adapted from Buchan's Domestic Medicine. These questions probe the patients' previous health; their employment; any pain they might be experiencing in their head, throat or stomach; an unpleasant taste in their mouth or nausea; excessive wind or the passing of urine, its colour and consistency; difficulty breathing or sleeping; and if the patient is female, the stage in their cycle, marital status and possibility of pregnancy. The same section instructs the physician to examine the patient's physical appearance, especially their eyes, tongue, faeces, spit and urine, and to listen to breathing and palpate the stomach. Even if used in an amateur medical setting, it demonstrates an empirical approach to illness, rooted in the observation of symptoms rather than speculation or invocation of humours (although that does also feature at various points here). The final pages contain an index and a long list of supplementary notes in what appears to be a neater, smaller version of the same hand.

[Description compiled from information provided by Maggs bookseller, 2021].

1777

1 volume Verso of title page with separate engravings of Hippocrates and Galen pasted from printed volume, and two sections of ornamental border with birds and cherubs. 8vo (163 x 105mm). [1]f. 403pp, [23]ff. Contemporary stained vellum, red edges, marbled front pastedown, rear pastedown with a sketch in red pencil of seated male figure, holding a book. Front and rear leaves dusty, small area of loss to gutter of second leaf, not touching text, final leaf partially detached, two closed tears to rear pastedown, touching image, no loss.

Purchased August 2021

Purchased from Maggs. Maggs were unable to provide any further information on provenance.