Europe during Napoleon and after

Abstract

The revolution, which towards the end of the eighteenth century swept away the `ancien régime’ in France, also brought about a complete change in medical and surgical education. The old `Facultés de Médecine’ and the Paris ‘Collège de Chirurgie’ dating from 1750 were abolished. ‘Ecoles de Santé’, established in Paris, Montpellier and Strasbourg, were to take over and teach an integrated course, which meant that henceforth surgery was on a par with internal medicine. Great importance was attached to the observation and treatment of patients: Peu lire, beaucoup voir et beaucoup faire’, was the maxim adopted by Antoine-François Fourcroy (1755–1809), one of the authors of the reformation.