[History of the "charitable works" of Philibert Guybert]

This report, made in two parts, relates Philibert Guybert's Charitable works history which were reprinted at least sixty times between 1623 and 1679 - quite an exceptional number for that period. Le Médecin charitable (The Charitable Physician) (1623), was followed by other works such as Le Prix et valeur des médicaments (Price and value of medicines) (1625), l'Apothicaire charitable (The charitable Apothecary) (1625), la Manière d'embaumer les corps morts (The way of embalming corpses) (1627), etc. As an indication of methods then used in the Parisian Faculty of Medicine, Guybert's works were compiled at many times under the title (Euvres charitables de Philibert Guybert, until the reference edition in 1633, in which other authors works were added. Philibert Guybert's objective was to help people, particulary the poor, to treat themselves by making their own remedies, in other words, fighting against privileges, as well as the apothecaries' lure of profit-making and their corrupted methods. The first part recalls the period between 1623 and 1629, with regard to Guybert's first works and the controversy between doctors and apothecaries. The second part begins by relating the history of the reference edition, in 1633, which came out few months before Guybert's death. Gui Patin, the well-known parisian doctor, took an important part in this edition: he wrote a Traité de la Conservation de la Santé (Treaty of health conservation), and also many annotations concerning l'Avis sur la peste (Advice on the plague) by Nicolas Ellain - in which Patin expresses his disapproval of certain remedies such as theriac, mithridate, arsenic, pearls, bezoaa, etc. -, and also how he felt about le Traité de la Saignée de Galien (The treaty of blood-letting by Galien) - with his approval of both the blood-letting and Galien! Then the author recalls the posthumous editions, some of them clandestine, and also evokes latine and english editions (Medici officiosi opera and The charitable Physician respectively). The nature of Guybert's works, and also various similar events (such as the 1647 trial between Patin and apothecaries) show the importance of conflicts occurred between Parisian apothecaries and doctors of the time.

[Three contracts signed by the apothecary Nicolas Houel in 1586]

Nicolas Houel famous apothecary founder of the House of the Christian Charity, near Paris, in the 16th Century, welcomed poor children for six years. The author has found two reception contracts and a settlement act to the Foundation signed by Houel in 1586.

[The diatessaron theriaque or low people theriaque]

The traditional theriaque was made of a very large number of constituants. But in contrast, a small theriaque, called diatessaron, contained only four plants. It was described with the same therapeutical properties as the largest ones. Its composition remained nearly constant for many centuries. Its name was progressively modified into theriaque des pauvres because of its simplicity. But some of its constituants were issued from Arabic countries and were difficult to get in France; so this theriaque was not present in the pharmaceutical books which were used for low people in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries: indeed these books described only mixtures of french local plants.

Midwifery in the Belfast City Hospital

The process of improving midwifery services for poor women in Belfast was a slow one. Traditional midwives were gradually supplanted by midwives who were trained and controlled by the medical profession, but it was many years before the problems of puerperal infection were brought under control in the new institutions.

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The cholera epidemics of the 19th century have recently received much historiographic attention. One of the major questions raised by that discussion concerns the social stratification of the cholera victims. This paper contributes to that discussion by giving an analysis of the epidemics of 1855 and 1867 in Zürich, Switzerland. Sources are a great problem. Therefore a definite answer to the question of the social status of the cholera victims is only possible for the later, more serious outbreak of cholera. The problem of social stratification is connected with the problem of poverty. How is the usage of this term and its meanings determined by the actual social inequality of the cholera victims? The medical doctors in Zürich were interested in the relationship between poverty and cholera, albeit from different perspectives: the doctors of the 1850s regarded poverty primarily as a moral problem. Their advice on public health measures centered on traditional ideas of quarantine and (moral) education of the poor. In contrast, the doctors of the 1860s thought of poverty as a social problem. They hoped that sanitary reforms would be the answer to the social problems of Zürich.

[The Order of Malta, nine centuries at the service of the indigent people]

After having recalled the history of the Order and its settling in Malta, the author evokes the Holy Infirmary, the great epidemics, the study of anatomy and pharmacy. The Holy Infirmary was founded at the end of the 16th century by the Great Master Jean de la Valette simultaneously with the town bearing his name. There hospital conditions were unusually good. The epidemics were favorized by the geographical situation of the Island exposed to the infectious diseases spreading from Asia and Africa: in 1591 a plague epidemic or of a very deadly influenza; in 1675 another plague epidemic was still more noxious, whereas in 1705 another one was stopped. The study of anatomy was encouraged by the Great Masters and in 1676 a chair of anatomy was established, an amphitheatre built in 1716 and a course organized. Pharmacy was honored by the creation of a Great Apothecary amid the Holy Infirmary firmly controled by the physicians. An important list of remedies used at that time is given with its description.

Triage for health care in a metropolis: Paris under Napoleon

Paris under Napoleon offers the earliest example of medical patient triage in a metropolis. A central admitting office opened at the Hotel-Dieu of Paris in 1801 under the supervision of a municipal hospital council. It admitted about 22,000 patients in the first eighteen months. This number represented about 44% of all applicants; another 16,000 were admitted to various hospitals as emergencies; the rest were treated as outpatients and helped on the spot or referred to district welfare offices, dispensaries, and nursing homes. Thus the historian can discern a concerted effort by hospital authorities to keep indigent patients out of the hospital.