Pierre-Joseph Desault (6 February 1738 – 1 June 1795) was a French

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

and

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

Biography

Pierre-Joseph Desault was born in

Vouhenans Vouhenans is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Saône department The following is a list of the 539 communes in the French department of Hau ...

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

. He was destined for a career in the Church, but his own inclination was towards the study of medicine; after learning something from the barber-surgeon of his native village, he was settled as an apprentice in the

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Territo ...

, where he acquired some knowledge of anatomy and military surgery. Going to Paris at about twenty years of age, he later opened a school of anatomy there in the winter of 1766, the success of which excited the jealousy of the established teachers and professors, who tried to make him give up his lectures. In 1776 he was admitted as a member of the Corps of Surgeons; and in 1782 he was appointed Surgeon Major to the

Hospital of Charity A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

. In 1784, Desault moved to the

Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

to participate in a major ancien régime experiments in surgical education. Within a few years he was recognized as one of the leading surgeons of France. The clinical school of surgery which he instituted at the Hôtel-Dieu attracted great numbers of students, not only from every part of France (

Pierre Bouchet Pierre Bouchet (6 January 1752 – 6 January 1794) was a French physician born in Lyon. Biography He was trained in medicine in Paris as Pierre-Joseph Desault pupil then came home in Lyon Hôtel-Dieu where he became Head Surgeon. He was the fir ...

from Lyon for example) but also from other countries; and he frequently had an audience of about 100. In fact, it was praised by his pupil

Xavier Bichat Marie François Xavier Bichat (; ; 14 November 1771 – 22 July 1802) was a French anatomist and pathologist, known as the father of modern histology. Although he worked without a microscope, Bichat distinguished 21 types of elementary tissues ...

as the best surgical school in Europe. Desault introduced many improvements to the practice of surgery, as well as to the construction of surgical instruments. In 1791 he established a ''Journal de chirurgerie'', edited by his pupils, which was a record of the most interesting cases that had occurred in his clinical school, with the remarks which he had made upon them in the course of his lectures. In the midst of his labors, however, he became obnoxious to some of the Revolutionary authorities, and he was, on some frivolous charge, denounced to the government. After being twice examined, he was seized on 28 May 1793, in the midst of delivering a lecture, carried away from his surgical theatre, and committed to prison in the Luxembourg. In three days, however, he was liberated, and permitted to resume his functions. On 31 May 1795 he was summoned to attend to the young

Louis XVII Louis XVII (born Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy; 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795) was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a m ...

by the latter's prisonguards, due to his severe illness. Desault died the next day, before he could visit the King. The rumour that his death was caused by poisoning during this summons was disproved by the autopsy carried out by his pupil Bichat. A pension was settled on his widow by the Republic.

Works

Together with

François Chopart François Chopart (20 October 1743 – 9 June 1795) was a French surgeon born in Paris. He was trained in medicine at the Hôtel-Dieu, Pitié and the Bicêtre hospitals. In 1771 he became a professor of practical surgery at the '' École prati ...

(1743-1795), he published ''Traité des maladies chirurgicales'' (1779), and Bichat published a digest of his surgical doctrines in ''OEuvres chirurgicales de Desault'' (1798-1799).

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Desault, Pierre-Joseph 1744 births 1795 deaths 18th-century French physicians French surgeons French medical writers 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers Louis XVII