ABSTRACT
Physicians played an active role in the French Revolution. In particular because the National assembly decided to drastically revise the way in which medicine could be practised. In effect, it was ordained that anybody, qualified or not, could practice medicine. At the same time, universities, medical guilds, and scientific societies were abolished. Apart from anything else, this in theory at least, stopped the education of physicians and surgeons. These actions, it is suggested, would have been influential in Ramel’s decision to sign up for the Army. The turmoil which spread across France during the revolution affected Ramel’s home town of Aubagne as much as elsewhere. However, despite his middle-class background, Ramel was from the outset, and for the rest of his life, a supporter of the Revolution and its principles.
