Mémoires sur les Hôpitaux de Paris.

Illustrated with 15 large folding plates. 4to. Modern ½-leather-backed boards. Paris, Ph.-D. Pierres, 1788. First Edition.

In 1785 the French surgeon Jacque René Tenon was required by royal command to make a scientific study of European hospitals. He traveled for 18 months in France, England and Germany, after which he prepared and published his report, which revealed the appalling conditions prevailing in Parisian hospitals. This was particularly true of the Hotel-Dieu. With great foresight, he proposed a series of reforms. He believed particularly that "there must be rooms in which to prepare for operations, for the operations themselves, and for those who have undergone operations; these rooms must be removed from noise and from infection."

Tenon's work had a prodigious effect and profoundly influenced the King and the public. His proposed reforms were upset by the French Revolution, but nevertheless served during the 19th century as the conceptual guide for the majority of European hospitals.

A fine bright copy with wide margins and 15 detailed fold-out diagrams of hospitals; untrimmed.