Background
Corvisart was born on February 15, 1755, in Dricourt, France, where his father, Pierre Corvisart, an attorney at the parliament of Paris, had retired following Louis XV’s exile of that unmanageable body.
15 Rue de l'École de Médecine, 75006 Paris, France
In 1777, contrary to his father’s wishes - who wanted him to become a lawyer - Corvisart moved on to study medicine at the Ecole de médecine in Paris.
15 Rue de l'École de Médecine, 75006 Paris, France
In 1777, contrary to his father’s wishes - who wanted him to become a lawyer - Corvisart moved on to study medicine at the Ecole de médecine in Paris.
((with Louis Desbois de Rochefort))
(with Louis Desbois de Rochefort)
https://www.amazon.com/Elementaire-Matiere-Medicale-Precis-Formuler/dp/127213931X/?tag=2022091-20
1793
(French Edition (with C. E. Horeau))
French Edition (with C. E. Horeau)
https://www.amazon.com/Essai-Maladies-L%C3%A9sions-Organiques-Vaisseaux/dp/0484001124/?tag=2022091-20
1806
Corvisart was born on February 15, 1755, in Dricourt, France, where his father, Pierre Corvisart, an attorney at the parliament of Paris, had retired following Louis XV’s exile of that unmanageable body.
At the age of twelve, Corvisart began his schooling at the Collège Sainte-Barbe, where his intelligence, thoughtful manner and athletic abilities saw him distinguish himself from his fellow pupils. It was at this school that he met Antoine Petit, the well-known anatomist, a meeting that was to prove telling. In 1777 and contrary to his father’s wishes - who wanted him to become a lawyer - he moved on to study medicine at the Ecole de médecine in Paris. Upon completion of his sometimes tumultuous studies, he received the master of arts degree at the age of eighteen.
Wishing to earn a living, Corvisart applied for a position as physician at the Hôpital des Paroisses. Its founder, Mme. Necker, the wife of the minister of finance, rejected his candidacy on the pretext that the applicant refused to wear a wig. He therefore had to resign himself to accepting the position of physician to the poor in Saint-Sulpice, receiving annual fees of 300 francs. At the same time he continued visiting the Hôpital de la Charité, where he occupied the post of médecin-expectant, working with the famous Desbois de Rochefort. In 1788 he became médecin-en-second. Even then his talents as a meticulous observer and clever teacher attracted many students, who came from everywhere to accompany him on his rounds.
In 1794, when the legislators decided to enact a thorough reform of the teaching of medicine, Corvisart was unanimously appointed to the professorship of internal clinical medicine at La Charité, a position specially created for him. Corvisart became a professor at the École de Médecine and shortly afterward at the Collège de France. In the morning he taught and during the afternoon he held consultations. He also managed the Journal de médecine, chirurgie et pharmacie. He published a translation of Maximilian Stoll’s work on fevers and one of Leopold Auenbrugger’s on chest percussion, and commentaries on Boerhaave’s Aphorisms. A long and remarkable study on diseases of the heart constituted his magnum opus and can legitimately be considered the first treatise on cardiology.
Of all honors accorded Corvisart, the highest of all was that conferred upon him in 1801, when Napoleon himself, then first consul of the republic, became his patient. Corvisart’s common sense, the simplicity of his diagnostics, and the logic of his reasoning triumphed over the skepticism of his new patient, who, after the first interview, declared: “I do not believe in medicine, but I do believe in Corvisart.” Soon Corvisart was appointed surgeon general, and he assumed the duties of first physician of the court when Napoleon became emperor. A few years later he was made a baron and entered the Académie des Sciences. For ten years, until Napoleon’s fall, Corvisart remained with the man who had placed such confidence in him. Even though the emperor enjoyed rather good health, he liked to see Corvisart several times a week, to chat or to question him on medical problems. Corvisart enjoyed these conversations but never stooped to obsequiousness. Occasionally, however, he did take advantage of these moments of relaxation to request pay increases, ask for favors, or suggest promotions. In order to give better service to the court, Corvisart had abandoned all of his hospital and professorial duties. He was, in fact, not only the emperor’s physician, but physician to the two empresses and Napoleon’s son, the king of Rome. At the time of Napoleon’s divorce and remarriage to Archduchess Marie-Louise, he was even summoned to provide advice on the emperor’s chances of becoming a father (Napoleon was then forty-one).
After the Bourbons returned to power, Corvisart voluntarily abstained from all political activity. He refused, with dignity, the advances of the new regime, choosing instead to remain loyal to Napoleon. Moreover, his health had become poor. He withdrew from the world, abandoned his profession, and took refuge in silence and solitude. One of Corvisart’s last joys was being invited, in 1820, to sit in the Académie Royale de Médecine, the majority of whose members had been his students.
Corvisart was one of the first French physicians to advocate the replacement of the empirical methods of diagnosis with a method of thorough and systematic examination and analytical interpretation of physical symptoms established during the examination. He thus should be considered the true promoter of clinical medicine in France.
((with Louis Desbois de Rochefort))
1793(French Edition (with C. E. Horeau))
1806
