Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Dominique-Jean Larrey

  • Dr. Dominique Larrey

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden Dominique Jean Larrey (1766-1842), the orphaned son of a shoemaker, was raised by an uncle who was a surgeon and became a physician himself by the age of twenty-one. He gave medical assistance to those who stormed the Bastille and supported the French Revolution. In the first war waged against republican France,…

  • The Grand Army and horsemeat

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “An army travels on its stomach.” — Attributed to Napoleon Out of all of the innovations of Dominique Jean Larrey (1766-1842), one has yet to be properly appreciated. In his own words, “I have very often, and with the greatest success given horseflesh to our soldiers and the wounded of our armies…[I]t…

  • Medical innovations made by doctors during the Napoleonic Wars

    Craig StoutAberdeen, Scotland The Napoleonic Wars (1799 to 1815) brought great upheaval and turmoil to Europe, with as many as 2.5 million soldiers and 1 million civilians losing their lives. French military physicians, principally Dominique Jean-Larrey, made significant contributions to medicine, saving many lives and helping to develop modern medical practices for future generations. The…

  • Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey: Founder of military surgery and trauma care

    Stavros GourgiotisAthens, Greece Hippocrates stated that “war is the only proper school for surgeons.” War inevitably gives an impetus to surgical innovations and many advances in surgery have been made in the historic training ground for surgeons: the armed conflict. During past centuries the management of the numerous and serious battlefield wounds was not effective…

  • Dominique-Jean Larrey, Napoleon’s army surgeon (1766–1842)

    I can hardly believe my own memory when I recall the old practitioners and professors who were still going round the hospitals when I mingled with the train of students that attended the morning visits…. The short, square, substantial man with iron-gray hair, ruddy face, and white apron is Baron Larrey, Napoleon’s favorite surgeon, the…