first edition As issued.
1806 · Caen
by Préfecture Caen
Caen: Préfecture du Département du Calvados, 1806. First Edition. As issued.. Very good; small old repair to lower blank corner; untrimmed; light occasional spotting; old folds.. Broadside, folio, letterpress printed in three columns measuring appx. 528 x 425 mm.
A scarce and striking broadside, presumably intended for public display, printed in Caen and dated December 1st 1806, announcing to the citizens of Calvados that a local girl from the department would be chosen from among women able to read and write, to be sent free of charge to Paris to attend the École d'accouchement at the Maternité, France's premier midwifery school, from January 1st 1807. The maternity school had been created only five years previously, by Chaptal. The document has been signed off by the Prefect of Calvados, Charles Caffarelli.
During the 1780s, a number of provincial teaching establishments were created in France, in an attempt to to curb the ignorant, and indeed sometimes pernicious practices found amongst the poorly educated rural midwives. As part of the Revolutionary reorganization and rationalization of the medical profession an act was passed in An XI (1803) regulating the number of midwives which each individual Départements in the Country should have. It also required that they be properly trained and that they were examined before they be allowed to practice. The 'prefects' of each Department selected their candidates - women between 18 and 35 - and sent them for training. The course they took was laid down precisely: as well as the theory and practice of delivery, they had to master inoculation, bleeding, and the knowledge of herbs and plants efficacious for problems during both pregnancy and birth. The students were taught by the surgeon of the hospital and by the chief midwife. At the end of their year's course they were examined by a jury of four outside professionals. The first lecturer in midwifery was Jean-Louis Baudelocque (1746-1810) while Madame Louise Lachapelle (1769-1821) was the chief instructing midwife. Other noted obstetricians and surgeons who contributed to the school and/or sat on the examining committee included Andry, Auvity, Dubois, Dupuis, Chaussier and Désormeaux.
"Baudelocque received medical instruction from his father, a prominent surgeon in Amiens, at an early age. He later completed his medical education in Paris where he became the most distinguished pupil of François Louis Joseph Solayrès de Renhac (1739-1772) at the Hôpital de la Charité. By 1776 he was a member of the Collège de Chirurgie and well established in Paris as a teacher and obstetrician. After the French Revolution, with its subsequent reorganization of France's scientific institutions, Baudelocque was appointed professor of obstetrics at the École de Santé and director of the Maternité. Baudelocque achieved a great reputation, became France's leading obstetrician, and was called upon to attend many women from Europe's top royal families. His fame and reputation also gained him some outspoken critics especially since Baudelocque was an advocate of cesarean section. It was his support of cesarean section that led him into a bitter lawsuit late in his career. Unfortunately, one of his patients died and he was forced to trial ... Baudelocque lost the suit and, in spite of his achievements and enormous professional stature, never fully recovered from the incident. Baudelocque's obstetric contributions include a forceps which he based on an earlier model of Levret as well as a pelvimeter of his own design. He also introduced a technique for measuring the various diameters of the female pelvis one of which, the external conjugate, bears his name" (Heirs 1061) (Inventory #: 21139)
A scarce and striking broadside, presumably intended for public display, printed in Caen and dated December 1st 1806, announcing to the citizens of Calvados that a local girl from the department would be chosen from among women able to read and write, to be sent free of charge to Paris to attend the École d'accouchement at the Maternité, France's premier midwifery school, from January 1st 1807. The maternity school had been created only five years previously, by Chaptal. The document has been signed off by the Prefect of Calvados, Charles Caffarelli.
During the 1780s, a number of provincial teaching establishments were created in France, in an attempt to to curb the ignorant, and indeed sometimes pernicious practices found amongst the poorly educated rural midwives. As part of the Revolutionary reorganization and rationalization of the medical profession an act was passed in An XI (1803) regulating the number of midwives which each individual Départements in the Country should have. It also required that they be properly trained and that they were examined before they be allowed to practice. The 'prefects' of each Department selected their candidates - women between 18 and 35 - and sent them for training. The course they took was laid down precisely: as well as the theory and practice of delivery, they had to master inoculation, bleeding, and the knowledge of herbs and plants efficacious for problems during both pregnancy and birth. The students were taught by the surgeon of the hospital and by the chief midwife. At the end of their year's course they were examined by a jury of four outside professionals. The first lecturer in midwifery was Jean-Louis Baudelocque (1746-1810) while Madame Louise Lachapelle (1769-1821) was the chief instructing midwife. Other noted obstetricians and surgeons who contributed to the school and/or sat on the examining committee included Andry, Auvity, Dubois, Dupuis, Chaussier and Désormeaux.
"Baudelocque received medical instruction from his father, a prominent surgeon in Amiens, at an early age. He later completed his medical education in Paris where he became the most distinguished pupil of François Louis Joseph Solayrès de Renhac (1739-1772) at the Hôpital de la Charité. By 1776 he was a member of the Collège de Chirurgie and well established in Paris as a teacher and obstetrician. After the French Revolution, with its subsequent reorganization of France's scientific institutions, Baudelocque was appointed professor of obstetrics at the École de Santé and director of the Maternité. Baudelocque achieved a great reputation, became France's leading obstetrician, and was called upon to attend many women from Europe's top royal families. His fame and reputation also gained him some outspoken critics especially since Baudelocque was an advocate of cesarean section. It was his support of cesarean section that led him into a bitter lawsuit late in his career. Unfortunately, one of his patients died and he was forced to trial ... Baudelocque lost the suit and, in spite of his achievements and enormous professional stature, never fully recovered from the incident. Baudelocque's obstetric contributions include a forceps which he based on an earlier model of Levret as well as a pelvimeter of his own design. He also introduced a technique for measuring the various diameters of the female pelvis one of which, the external conjugate, bears his name" (Heirs 1061) (Inventory #: 21139)