Chervin, Nicolas (1783-1843)

Certificats de La Guadeloupe. New York, La Guadeloupe, St. Barthélemy, La Martinique, Nevis, Surinam, St. Christopher, and New Orleans A collection of 32 certified copies of professional opinions and 13 original professional opinions in reply to Chervin's inquiries concerning the non-contagiousness of yellow fever. The opinions are primarily addressed from Guadeloupe. Each document bears the name of the responding practitioner, and the certified copies each bear the official stamp and signature of J. D'Espinville, French Consul in New York, and the date 27 August 1821.

1817-1822

62 ll. (some bl.). 39.5 x 25.5 cm. Bound

Purchased 1933.

Chervin was born in St. Laurent d'Oingt and died in Bourbonne-les-Bains. He studied medicine at l'Hôtel Dieu, Lyon, and in Paris, where he graduated in 1812. Much of Chervin's career was devoted to proving the non-contagiousness of yellow fever, and for that purpose he travelled across the American continent 1817-22 within the range 37° of latitude from Surinam to Maine. During his journeys he gathered 541 documents from 531 practitioners experienced in yellow fever to support his contention; but in spite of these observations and his own, his opinion was strongly opposed by others. In 1832 he became a member of the Académie Royale de Médecine. [See Dubois d'Amiens (1846); and Waserman & Mayfield (1971) describe Chervin's yellow fever survey in the United States 1820-22].

Described in: Robin Price, An Annotated Catalogue of Medical Americana in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1983).