![Pozzi, Samuel - Par Nadar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Pozzi%2C_Samuel_-_Par_Nadar.jpg)
Samuel Jean de Pozzi (3 October 1846 – 13 June 1918) was a French
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 ...
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 ...
. He was also interested in
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
and
neurology
Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...
. He is remembered today for
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
's portrait of him.
Early life
Samuel-Jean Pozzy (he changed the spelling later) was born in
Bergerac,
Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...
to a family of Italian/Swiss descent. Samuel's father Benjamin Dominique Pozzy (20 March 1820 – 1905), a minister of the
Reformed Church of France, married Marthe-Marie Inés Escot-Meslon (11 March 1821 – 1857) on 29 April 1844 in Bergerac, Dordogne, France. She died when Samuel was ten, and his father then married an Englishwoman, Mary Anne Kempe, on 19 October 1859 in
Bakewell, Derbyshire
Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, known also for its local Bakewell pudding. It lies on the River Wye, about 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Sheffield. In the 2011 census, t ...
, England.
Pozzi went to study first to
Pau and then to
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
. For his handsome appearance and cultured demeanor, other pupils nicknamed him ''The Siren''.
Medical career
![Adrien Barrère33c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Adrien_Barr%C3%A8re33c.jpg)
In 1864, Pozzi began to study medicine in Paris. When the
Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, he volunteered and became a
medic. Later he was one of the pupils of the neurologist
Paul Broca and as his assistant he worked with anthropology, neurology and
comparative anatomy
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species).
The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...
. Pozzi graduated as a doctor in 1873. The subject of his first thesis was
fistula of the ischio-rectal fossa (4).
In 1875, Pozzi became a university teacher after his second thesis concerning the use of
hysterotomy for
uterine fibroids. In 1876, Pozzi traveled to Scotland to the Congress of the
British Medical Association
The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headquar ...
to meet
Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of s ...
, whose interest in
antiseptics he supported. In 1877, Pozzi became ''chirurgien des hôpitaux''.
Pozzi went to Austria, Germany and Britain to study gynecological methods and became one of the pioneers of gynecology in France. He gained a reputation as a teacher, preferring to make his rounds dressed in white overalls and wearing a black cap.
In 1881, Pozzi became a hospital surgeon, specializing in gynecological and abdominal surgery. In 1883, he was appointed surgeon at the
Hôpital de Lourcine-Pascal. After 1884 he gave theoretical lectures in the hospital. In 1888, he became a president of the Society of Anthropology – he had been a member since 1870. He traveled widely to supplement his knowledge.
Pozzi established the first Chair of Gynecology in Paris in 1884. In 1889, he performed the first
gastroenterostomy
A gastroenterostomy is the surgical creation of a connection between the stomach and the jejunum. The operation can sometimes be performed at the same time as a partial gastrectomy (the removal of part of the stomach). Gastroenterostomy was in the ...
in France. In 1896, he was elected to the
French Academy of Medicine
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
. In 1897, he was a co-founder of the ''Revue de gynécologie et de chirurgie abdominale''.
In 1913, Pozzi and
Georges Clemenceau organized the first
transplant
Transplant or Transplantation may refer to:
Sciences
*Transplanting a plant from one location to another
*Organ transplantation, moving an organ from one body to another
*Transplant thought experiment, an experiment similar to Trolley problem
*Tra ...
symposium in Paris. In 1914, he rejoined the army when the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out and became a
military surgeon.
Personal life
![Pozzi, Samuel - Par Sargent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Pozzi%2C_Samuel_-_Par_Sargent.jpg)
In 1879, Pozzi married Thérèse Loth-Cazalis, heiress of a railroad magnate, and they had three children:
Catherine, Jean, and Jacques. His wife wanted her mother to live with them, which made for tensions in the marriage. Pozzi also had affairs: with the opera singer
Georgette Leblanc, the actress
Réjane, the widow of
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...
,
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...
, and Emma Sedelmeyer Fischhof. The daughter of an art dealer and wife of a horse breeder, Fischhof was a beautiful, cultured woman of Jewish heritage who became Pozzi's mistress in 1890. His wife refused to grant him a
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
, but Fischhof remained his companion for the rest of his life.
Relationship with Sarah Bernhardt
In his early days in Paris, Pozzi had met Sarah Bernhardt through a childhood friend, the actor Jean Mounet-Sully. According to
Gustave Schlumberger
Léon Gustave Schlumberger (17 October 1844 – 9 May 1929) was a French historian and numismatist who specialised in the era of the crusades and the Byzantine Empire. His ' (1878–82) is still considered the principal work on the coinage of the c ...
, they briefly became lovers, then remained lifelong friends afterwards. In 1898, he commissioned painter
Georges Clairin
Georges Jules Victor Clairin (11 September 1843, Paris – Pouldu, Clohars-Carnoët 2 September 1919) was a French Orientalist painter and illustrator. He was influenced by Eastern imagery Moorish architecture, and visited North Africa many ...
—a longtime friend—to paint a painting for the wall of his Hospital, Lourcine. Sketches by Clairin from when he painted murals on the walls of Pozzi's house are included in the illustrations in The Diva and Dr God (1). In 1898, Bernhardt insisted on Pozzi operating on her
ovarian cyst
An ovarian cyst is a fluid-filled sac within the ovary. Often they cause no symptoms. Occasionally they may produce bloating, lower abdominal pain, or lower back pain. The majority of cysts are harmless. If the cyst either breaks open or causes ...
. In 1915, she called on him again, and Pozzi arranged for a colleague to
amputate
Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...
her damaged leg.
Political and cultural interests
Pozzi became an honorary member of the
Cercle de l'Union artistique
Cercle is French for ''circle''. It can refer to:
* circle (country subdivision)
* Cercle (French colonial), an administrative unit of the French Overseas Empire
* Cercle (Mali), the Malian administrative unit
** The specific Cercles of Mali
* ...
(known as the
Mirlitons) in 1881, and met the painter
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
. Sargent's 1881 portrait of Pozzi depicts him in a red dressing gown and is currently displayed at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
Pozzi befriended
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
,
Robert Proust,
Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn (; 9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100.
Hahn was born in Caracas b ...
, and
Robert de Montesquiou. In 1877 he came to know poet
Louise Ackermann
Louise-Victorine Ackermann (''née'' Choquet) (30 November 1813 – 2 August 1890) was a French Parnassian poet.
Life
Ackermann was born in Paris, but spent her younger days in more rural surroundings near Montdidier, south-east of Amiens ...
, when he asked her to teach him German. Salonniere
Lydie Aubernon nicknamed him "the love doctor". He corresponded with a feminist writer
Augustine Bulteau. He also collected coins and statuettes.
In 1898 Pozzi was elected senator from Bergerac and represented his district for three years. He improved the
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
and
sewer drainage of his town and was later involved with the restructuring of the French
baccalaureate exams. He did not seek re-election in 1902.
Pozzi witnessed the second trial of
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...
and supported
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
, who wrote
J'Accuse...! in support of Dreyfus's innocence. In 1908, Zola's ashes were transferred to the Pantheon and both Pozzi and Dreyfus were present. When the journalist Gregori shot Dreyfus and wounded him on the arm, Pozzi rushed to his aid.
Death
![Pozzi, Samuel - 1918](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Pozzi%2C_Samuel_-_1918.jpg)
On 13 June 1918, Maurice Machu, a patient from 1915, approached Pozzi in his consulting room. Pozzi had operated on him for
varicocele
varicocele is an abnormal enlargement of the pampiniform venous plexus in the scrotum. This plexus of veins drains blood from the testicles back to the heart. The vessels originate in the abdomen and course down through the inguinal canal as part ...
of the
scrotum
The scrotum or scrotal sac is an anatomical male reproductive structure located at the base of the penis that consists of a suspended dual-chambered sac of skin and smooth muscle. It is present in most terrestrial male mammals. The scrotum cont ...
, and he believed he had become impotent as a result. Machu asked him to operate again. When Pozzi refused and advised Machu that he was "suffering from a nervous complaint", Machu shot him three times: "in the arm, the chest and the gut (or, alternatively, in the arm, the stomach and the back)". Then Machu shot himself in the head. Pozzi ordered himself to be taken to the
Astoria Hospital, which had been converted into a military hospital for wounded from WW I, but the emergency
laparotomy
A laparotomy is a surgical procedure involving a surgical incision through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity. It is also known as a celiotomy.
Origins and history
The first successful laparotomy was performed without ane ...
was unsuccessful. He asked to be buried in his military uniform and died shortly afterwards.
Pozzi was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Bergerac. He was survived by his diplomat son
Jean Pozzi, poet daughter
Catherine Pozzi, and an institutionalized son, Jacques.
Publications
* ''Étude sur les fistules de l’espace pelvi-rectal supérieur etc. Doctoral thesis'', Paris, 1871
* ''De la valeur de l’hystérotomie dans le traitement des tumeurs fibreuses de l’utérus''. Thèse d’agrégation, Paris, 1875
* ''Traité de gynécologie clinique et opératoire'' Paris, 1890; 2nd edition, 1891; 4th edition, 1905–1907. Translated into six languages.
Pozzi wrote over 400 papers on surgery. His gynaecology text of 1890 was translated into five languages, and with revisions remained an authority to the 1930s.
In 1874, Pozzi and
Réné Benoit published a translation of
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
's ''
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
''The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'' is Charles Darwin's third major work of evolutionary theory, following ''On the Origin of Species'' (1859) and ''The Descent of Man'' (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in ''The Descen ...
''. He wrote the first French texts about antiseptic methods, after his visit to Lister.
See also
* ''
The Man in the Red Coat''
References
4. Étude sur les fistules de l’espace pelvi-rectal supérieur etc. Doctoral thesis, Paris, 1871.
5. Claude Vanderpooten: Samuel Pozzi – l’ami des femmes, Paris, In Fine Editions, 1992.
6. Caroline de Costa and Francesca Miller – Portrait of a Ladies’ Man- Dr Samuel-Jean Pozzi. History Today, vol. 56,3. 2006
7. Caroline de Costa and Francesca Miller. Sarah Bernhardt's Doctor God. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2007; 47 (5): 352-356
;Sources
*
External links
Samuel Jean de Pozzi in whonamedit.comDr Samuel-Jean Pozzi (1846–1918)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pozzi, Samuel Jean
1846 births
1918 deaths
People from Bergerac, Dordogne
French Calvinist and Reformed Christians
French people of Italian descent
French surgeons
French gynaecologists
19th-century French physicians
20th-century French physicians
Senators of Dordogne
20th-century surgeons