Clinique de M. Louis

Clinique de M. Louis

Lecture notes

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894

Louis, P. C. A. (Pierre Charles Alexandre), 1787-1894

After studying medicine with James Jackson, Holmes continued his medical education in Europe, beginning in the summer of 1833. He studied with some of France’s most famous physicians, including Marjolin, Roux, Velpeau, and Andral; this is Holmes’ notebook from the clinical lectures and demonstrations of Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis (1787-1872) at the Hôpital de la Pitié. In his letters home and recollections from this period, Holmes said, “I have more fully learned at least three principles since I have been in Paris: not to take authority when I can have facts; not to guess when I can know; not to think a man must take physic because he is sick …. Many a long and wearying hour I have passed on the stone floor of the autopsy-room at La Pitié, wasting my time over little points which, a few years later, would have been easily settled by the microscope …. As for the science of England and France, or rather Paris and London—to judge by their books and their students, and the reports of the intelligent young men who have seen both, the Frenchmen have half a century in advance.”

Lecture notes by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) on the lectures of Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894

1834 September 15, - 1835 March 27

The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all materials in this collection. For use information, consult Public Services at chm@hms.harvard.edu

Access to the original work depicted requires advance notice. Contact Public Services at chm@hms.harvard.edu for additional information

Harvard Medical Library Rare Books Collection (H MS b28.5)

text

excerpt (1 page)

English

text

DigID0002197

Transferred from the Houghton Library
to the Library of Harvard Medical School, 1956