A six-point treatment plan from Europe's most famous physician
Autograph medical manuscript signed.
8vo. 2½ pp. on bifolium. In French.
€ 1,500.00
Highly interesting diagnosis and plan of treatment for the Marquess of Barolo. Tissot diagnoses constipation and "putrid corruption" of the lower abdomen "that disturb all functions and cause fever and the other symptoms", prescribing a minimal diet of rice cooked in chicken broth, "cream of tartar" as a laxative, an extract of the roots of couch grass (elymus repens, "graminis canini"), external treatment with mallow extract, cataplasms for the legs, and, when the patient is somewhat recovered and the fever has receded, "should we be so lucky to get there", warm baths. Should the fever cease completely, Tissot advises his patient to go to Spa so as to "restore to the intenstines their full functionality" thanks to the motion of the body during the horseback or carriage ride there and to recover fully in the famous thermal waters.
Today, Samuel-Auguste Tissot is best known for his 1760 medical treatise "L'Onanisme" on the purported ill-effects of masturbation, which had a lasting negative influence on Western medicine. However, his most famous work during his lifetime, "Avis au peuple sur sa santé" from 1761, was the greatest medical best-seller of the 18th century and earned him a reputation throughout Europe. In 1777 Emperor Joseph II visited Tissot, as both men were advocates for the smallpox vaccine. The Emperor later asked Tissot to direct the teaching hospital of the University of Pavia, a post he held from 1781 to 1783.
The patient was probably Charles Jérôme Joseph Falletti de Barolo, father of Ottavio Falletti di Barolo (1753-1828) and grandfather of Carlo Tancredo Falletti di Barolo (1782-1838), who co-founded the Sisters of St Anne with his wife Juliette Colbert. Little is known of Charles Jérôme, and whether his treatment by Tissot was successful remains a subject for further research.
With tears from breaking the seal. Traces of folds and some browning. With a collector's note in pencil.
