ABSTRACT
In terms of the practical possibilities for medical intervention, the cases of sudden death and accidents are of particular interest because they illustrate the close relationship between medical police, public health and legal medicine. The idea of the health of the people was at the heart of medical police and public health, yet, as an idea, it is remarkably elusive. The arguments were not primarily conducted in terms of expertise, but in terms of public utility – the medical calling was very often presented as akin to that of the philanthropist and politician. In France, under both the ancien regime and the Napoleonic state, the proliferation of institutions, committees and officials was far too great for them to represent a single class and set of interests. As a well-defined area of debate, the problem of drowning gained prominence in France in the 1740s, both at local government level and in the printed medical literature.
