
In the turbulent days of the French Revolution, a dedicated chief physician is tasked with turning the chaos of war into a chance for medical advancement. He receives urgent orders to travel to Toulon and then Marseille, where a newly formed commission entrusts him with assembling a full medical corps for a massive expedition. The narrative follows his swift correspondence with the Montpellier medical school, the recruitment of six capable doctors, and the meticulous inventory of medicines, surgical tools, and personnel needed for the campaign.
As the expedition prepares to set sail, the physician collaborates with civil and military authorities to convert a warship into a floating hospital and to equip shore facilities for wounded soldiers. Detailed reports reveal the challenges of organizing supplies, training staff, and establishing instruction courses for junior medical officers. Throughout, the work reflects a blend of bureaucratic precision and humanitarian ambition, offering listeners a vivid glimpse into early military medicine and the revolutionary spirit that drove it.
Language
fr
Duration
~5 hours (301K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Mireille Harmelin, Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr)
Release date
2008-05-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1762–1837
Best known as the physician who followed Napoleon’s armies into Egypt and Syria, he earned a reputation for cool nerve, practical medicine, and refusal to abandon the sick in desperate conditions. His life combines battlefield drama with the story of a doctor who helped shape French military medicine.
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