La Clef de la médecine, ou le charlatan dévoilé.
Par Jean-Pierre Souilhac, Médecin - Chirurgien de l’université de Montpellier.
À Aurillac chez Viallanes, père et fils, Imprimeurs-Libraires, l’an Vème
Duodecimo, 120 pp. Recent binding without signature. Half Moroccan binding with marbled paper covers, open spine with 5 raised bands, untitled. New endpapers, beveled edges.
A doctor's pen is not brilliant; it has only the truth as its prerogative.
J.P. Souilhac
A very rare and fascinating book by a surgeon from the southwest practicing outside the major urban centers of 18th-century France. Offering the layman, in an accessible text, the breadth of his theoretical and practical knowledge.
In a broader context, this book is part of the pre-revolutionary anti-quackery movement and aims to discredit harmful popular beliefs or poor medical practices. The author draws on his experience, providing us with valuable accounts of his interventions, his patients, his operations, etc.
Lover of truth, I tear off the blindfold that hides it, enemy of charlatanism, I reveal it: it is he who, through his murderous maneuvers, has made medicine a deadly science. I combat errors and prejudices, I am the scourges of science; destroying them, as Mr. Fourcroy says, is one of the most useful functions of a physician.
J.P. Souilhac
This effort at popularization, even if it had been effective in the 18th century, is very useful to us today because it very clearly explains medical knowledge as well as the methodologies of a physician of the time.
If I had to speak only to scholars, I would have written in Latin, which is their language; but wanting to be understood by my fellow citizens of all classes and sexes, from the city and the countryside, I must use an idiom they all understand.
J.P. Souilhac
Rare book, 3 copies listed in libraries (USTC) and no record of sale.
Condition: Contemporary restoration and binding, stains and losses on the title pages, errata, and endpapers (see photos).
