This very striking monument of modern architecture, situated in the
_Faubourg St. Germain_, owes its erection to the partiality which
Lewis XV entertained for the art of surgery. That monarch preferred
it to every science; he was fond of conversing on it, and took such
an interest in it, that, in order to promote its improvement, he
built this handsome edifice for the _ci-devant Académie et Écoles de
Chirurgie_. The architect was GONDOUIN.
The façade, extending nearly two hundred feet, presents a peristyle
of the Ionic order. The interior distribution of this building
corresponds with the elegance of its exterior. It contains a valuable
library, a cabinet of anatomical preparations (among which is a
skeleton that presents a rare instance of a general _anchilosis_) and
imitations in wax, a chemical laboratory, a vast collection of
chirurgical and philosophical instruments, and a magnificent
amphitheatre, the first stone of which was laid by Lewis XVI in
December 1774. This lecture-room will conveniently hold twelve
hundred persons, and its form and arrangement are such, that a pupil
seated the farthest from the subject under dissection, can see all
the demonstrations of the Professor as well as if placed near the
marble table.
In one wing of the building is an _Hospice de Perfectionnement_,
formerly instituted for the reception of rare chirurgical cases only;
but into which other patients, labouring under internal disorders of
an extraordinary nature, are now likewise admitted.
To this school are attached from twenty to thirty Professors, who
lecture on anatomy and physiology; medical chemistry and pharmacy;
medical physics; pathology, internal and external; natural history,
as connected with medicine, and botany; operative medicine; external
and internal clinical cases, and the modern improvements in treating
them; midwifery, and all disorders incident to women; the physical
education of children; the history of medicine, and its legitimate
practice; the doctrine of Hippocrates, and history of rare cases;
medical bibliography, and the demonstration of the use of drugs and
chirurgical instruments. There are also a chief anatomist, a painter,
and a modeller in wax. The lectures are open to the public as well as
to the students, who are said to exceed a thousand. Besides this part
of instruction, the pupils practise anatomical, chirurgical, and
chemical operations. To the number of one hundred and twenty, they
form a practical school, divided into three classes, and are
successively distributed into three of the clinical hospitals in
Paris. At an annual competition, prizes are awarded to the greatest
proficients.
Although this school is so numerously attended, and has produced
several skilful professors, celebrated anatomists, and a multitude of
distinguished pupils, yet it appears that, since there has been no
regular admission for physicians and surgeons, the most complete
anarchy has prevailed in the medical line. The towns and villages in
France are overrun by quacks, who deal out poison and death with an
audacity which the existing laws are unable to check. Under the title
of _Officiers de Santé_, they impose on the credulity of the public,
in the most dangerous manner, by the distribution of nostrums for
every disorder. To put a stop to this alarming evil, it is in
contemplation to promulgate a law, enacting that no one shall in
future practise in France as a physician or surgeon, without having
been examined and received into one of the six Special Schools of
Medicine, or as an officer of health, without having studied a
certain number of years, walked the hospitals, and also passed a
regular examination.[1]