Alfred Auvard ; (Pierre-Victor Alfred Auvard) 8 August 1855 – 1940) was a French

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

and

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

born in the department of

Corrèze Corrèze (; oc, Corresa) is a department in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, ...

. He studied medicine in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and in 1879 became ''interne des hôpitaux''. In 1882 he furthered his studies in Germany (

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

), and in 1884 received his doctorate with a thesis titled ''De la pince à os et du cranioclaste''. Later he maintained a private OB/GYN clinic in Paris. During the 1880s, he introduced the "Auvard couveuse", an inexpensive incubator that became widely popular in the latter part of the 19th century. The Embryo Project Encyclopedia, ''The Infant Incubator in Europe (1860-1890)'' by Kelsy Rebovich, 02 November, 2017

/ref> Other eponyms in the field of obstetrics that bear his name are: "Auvard maneuver" - a procedure for extraction of the

placenta The placenta is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate mater ...

; "Auvard's

vaginal speculum A speculum (Latin for 'mirror'; plural specula or speculums) is a medical tool for investigating body orifices, with a form dependent on the orifice for which it is designed. In old texts, the speculum may also be referred to as a diopter or dio ...

", and "Auvard's basiotribe" - an instrument that is a combination of a

craniotomy A craniotomy is a surgical operation in which a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain. Craniotomies are often critical operations, performed on patients who are suffering from brain lesions, such as tumors, blood clots ...

forceps Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...

and a

cranioclast A cranioclast (from Greek κρανίον ''kranion'' "head, scull" and -κλάστης ''-klastes'' "breaker") is surgical instrument akin to a strong forceps. It was once used to crush and then extract the skull of a fetus so as to facilitate del ...

Selected publications

* ''Traitement de la métrite parenchymateuse par les scarifications du col de l'utérus'' (1880) * ''De la pince à os et du cranioclaste. Étude historique et expérimentale'' (1884) * ''De la conduite à tenir dans les cas de placenta praevia'' (1886) * ''De la Couveuse pour enfants'' (1888) * ''L'hypnotisme et la suggestion en obstétrique'' (1888) * ''Du traitement de l'eclampsie puerpérale'' (Paris 1888) - Treatment for

puerperal The postpartum (or postnatal) period begins after childbirth and is typically considered to end within 6 weeks as the mother's body, including hormone levels and uterus size, returns to a non-pregnant state. The terms puerperium, puerperal perio ...

eclampsia Eclampsia is the onset of seizures (convulsions) in a woman with pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is one of the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy that presents with three main features: new onset of high blood pressure, large amounts of protein in ...

. * ''Embryotome céphalique combiné'' (1889) * ''Travaux d'obstétrique'' (three volumes 1889) - Obstetrical works. * ''Hygiène infantile ancienne et moderne'' (with Pingat: 1889) - Ancient and modern child hygiene. * ''Traité pratique d'accouchements'' (1890) - Practical treatise on birthing. * ''Le nouveau-né; physiologie, hygiène, allaitement, maladies les plus fréquentes et leur traitement'' (1890) - On the newborn;

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

hygiene Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

, nursing, the most common illnesses and their treatment. * ''De l'antisepsie gynécologie et en obstétrique'' (1891) -

Antiseptics An antiseptic (from Greek ἀντί ''anti'', "against" and σηπτικός ''sēptikos'', "putrefactive") is an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putre ...

in gynecology and obstetrics. * ''Formulaire gynécologique illustré'' (1892) * ''Formulaire obstétrical illustré'' (1892) * ''Gynécologie. Séméiologie géni'' (1892) * ''Menstruation et fécondation, physiologie et pathologie'' (1892) * ''Planches murales pour l'enseignement de la gynécologie, tirées en plusieurs couleurs'' (1892) * ''Anesthésie chirurgicale et obstétricale'' (1893) * ''Guide de thérapeutique générale et spéciale'' (1893) * ''Thérapeutique obstétricale'' (1893) * ''De la Stérilité chez la femme'' (1896) * ''Thérapeutique gynécologique'' (1896) * ''L'Évoluisme'' (1914) * ''Aurore nouvelle'' (1917) * ''Aum (essence des religions)'' (1918) * ''Maladie (hystérie, neurasthénie, lésion)'' (1918) * ''Maya (monade dans l'homme)'' (1918) * ''Moksha (libération de la monade)'' (1918) * ''Nada (cycle d'une monade)'' (1918) * ''Vie (conscience, matière, force)'' (1918) * ''Bhagavad Gita (traduite et annotée)'' (1919) * ''Passionnalité (l'homme de désir)'' (1919) * ''Science des Védas (Doctrine évoluiste)'' (1919) * ''Spiritualité (l'homme de conscience)'' (1919) * ''Santé, comment se bien porter (d'après l'enseignement théosophique)'' (1920) * ''Bonheur (Art d'être heureux) d'après l'enseignement théosophique'' (1921) * ''Ésotérisme (Base de l'évoluisme)'' (1921) * ''Malheur (problème de la douleur) d'après l'enseignement théosophique'' (1921) * ''Énigme de la vie (Clé de l'évoluisme)'' (1922) * ''Sociologie (Évoluisme social)'' (1924)

References

Pagel: Biographical Dictionary
(translated biography from German)

Archives of Pediatrics 17:331-46, 1900
Bibliothèque nationale de France

Émile Saint-Lanne, Dictionnaire illustré des contemporains
* Encyclopédie internationale de chirurgie v. 2, 1883, Volume 2 * Larousse du XXe siècle, dictionnaire encyclopédique universel en six volumes, édition 1928

External links

Publications on Internet archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auvard, Pierre-Victor-Adolphe French gynaecologists French obstetricians 1855 births 1940 deaths People from Corrèze