ABSTRACT
Indeed, late nineteenth century doctors were not competent to correct many ailments and French doctors lagged behind even their British and German colleagues. Most doctors did not command social
respect because they came from the lower ranks of the bourgeoisie and the gentry; thus, they were not rich and their family names were not known. Many doctors were the overworked and underpaid contractees of mutual aid societies whose members held open-ended contracts for any and all treatment at a fixed premium. Until 1872 any doctor outside of Paris had no ongoing contact with a medical faculty; there were none. Had he wanted to keep abreast of new developments, he could have subscribed to publications such as the Annales d'hygiene publique et de medecine legale (later the Revue d'hygiene publique et de politique sanitaire) which began publication in 1829, but even its authors were unable to suggest more than cleanliness, isolation, and ventilation as antidotes to most public health problems. Therapeutic nihilism and a respect for theorists rather than practitioners persisted through the nineteenth century. Too often the authors of medical articles contented themselves with reciting the history of previous opinions on a problem; rarely was experimental or large-scale statistical information provided. For example, in 1856 Dr. Ambroise Tardieu published an article in which he described administering doses of red or white phosphorous to one dog and a few sparrows. He considered that the deaths of the animals which had ingested the white phosphorous and the survival of those which had ingested the red phosphorous proved the harmfulness of the former and the innocuity of the latter. He did not take into account that the workers did not ingest either substance. 5
in defense of their fees to individuals, thereby making their fees to the State, to departements, and to communes not the subject of bargaining. Shortly after, by a decree of July 1893, the scientific requirements for a medical degree were raised in physics, chemistry, physiology, histology, anatomy, microbiology, and parasitology. The hospital residency was also lengthened. Thus, for the first time, the French medical student of the 1890s could be sure of learning skills which would distinguish him from unlicensed practitioners. His social standing and political influence were to grow in consequence.
