Search

A medical doctor graduated in 1901, Henri Vangeon (1875-1944) was early known as a writer with the name of Henri Ghéon. In poetry, he joined the group of the symbolists lead by Mallarmé and Verhaeren. His activity grew with publishing reponsibility for the review 'Ermitage, followed by the NRF founded in 1909 by Gide, Schlumberger and soon after with Gallimard. Mainly devoted to novels and plays, the NRF rapidly succeeded. During the war, Ghéon acted in the health serv- ice. Then; he returned to the christianfaith, and lead his own way for creating numerous religious plays, honorated in Canada in 1938. In june 1944, he died in Paris.

This article offers a reading of premodern, spiritual tomboyism as evident in the cult of Sainte Foy in France during the ninth to eleventh centuries. It draws attention to the signs of differently gendered and aged masculinities in the female child saint. Martyred at the cusp of puberty, Sainte Foy remains forever suspended in her gender development. Bernard of Angers, in the Liber miraculorum, portrays Foy as a trickster tomboy whose miracles are known as her "jokes." But beyond the historical Foy and the textual Foy, there is a third Foy who is embodied in a reliquary statue with an adult male head. In times of social upheaval, Sainte Foy, whose earthly presence is manifest in her relics and reliquary statue, functions as a local patronus who protects her monastery, properties, and devotees. Her male-headed reliquary further affirms her identity as a holy warrior of Christ who fights to uphold the Peace of God. As trickster-tomboy and warrior-patronus, Sainte Foy hovers at and crosses over the boundaries of both gender- and age-based identities and practices.

Purpose: Some consider the "voices" of Joan of Arc to have been ecstatic epileptic auras, such as Dostoevsky's epilepsy. We performed a critical analysis of this hypothesis and suggest that the "voices" may be the expression of an epileptic syndrome recently described: idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features (IPEAF)., Methods: Joan's symptoms were obtained from the documentation of her Trial of Condemnation. We investigated Joan of Arc from a strictly semiologic point of view, focusing on symptoms and possible trigger factors., Results: From ages 13 to 19, the episodes were characterized by a prevalent auditory component, followed by "a great light" or images that Joan identified as saints. Sometimes, the visual component was missing and replaced by comprehension verbal disturbance. The spells were sudden, brief in duration, and frequent, and also occurred during sleep. In some cases, the sound of bells could trigger the "voices.", Conclusions: Joan's spells were characterized by a constant auditory component, complex, spontaneous, or evoked by sudden auditory stimuli, that could be associated with an inconstant visual component, sometimes simple and, more often, complex, and comprehension verbal disturbance. These spells differ from ecstatic epilepsy with respect to clinical features and involvement of cerebral regions. The negative family history, the ictal semiology, and the possibility that the spells were triggered by acoustic stimuli suggest IPEAF, and the search for the epitempin/LGI1 gene or other new gene mutations on a hair of the Maid of Orléans may enhance our knowledge about her presumed epilepsy.

This paper analyzes the age pattern of effective fecundability from populations with no evidence of deliberate fertility control using a new convolution model of fecundability. The analysis is based on a sample of Hutterite birth histories from the mid-20th century, and birth histories of French Canadians from the 17th and 18th centuries. The main findings are as follows: 1) the level of effective fecundability is higher among the French Canadians compared to the Hutterites; 2) effective fecundability peaks at age 20 for the Hutterites, and in the early to mid-20s for the French Canadians; 3) Hutterite effective fecundability declines almost linearly from age 20 to 45, and French Canadian effective fecundability declines slowly from its peak to the early 30s, and more rapidly at older ages; and 4) the duration of postpartum amenorrhea is longer for the French Canadians than for the Hutterites. Because of the shorter periods of postpartum amenorrhea the Hutterites have about the same average number of children as the French Canadians, even though the French Canadians have higher effective fecundability.

The evangelic Christian Mennonits, issued from Helvetia, spread first in Alsace, then in the neighbouring countries, bringing so traditions in agronomy and folk medicine. As generally in rural areas, in the days of old, natural therapies were characterised by rather strange practices, sometimes imbued with superstitions and mystic ideas. Some works, books, almanacs, dweller manuscripts, allow us to reach some uses forsaken and replaced by modern and scientific medicines.

The Baume du Commandeur de Pernes was studied in 1929 and the Commandeur identified by M. Bouvet; the origin of its synonym introduced by N. Lemery (1715), i.e. the Baume du Chevalier de St-Victor had not been elucidated up to now. The author's proposals, based upon genealogical data, are the following: two brothers Chevalier de St-Victor were enrolled in the Order of Malta in 1624 at St Gilles (Languedoc); one of them was able to transmit the Balm's formula to N. Lemery during his stay in Montpellier between 1668 and 1671. The geographically very different origins of the Commander and the Knight should prove perhaps that a basic pharmaceutical formulary common at least to all the French Commanderies was existing at that time. In the other hand, the fluctuations of the formula since the XVIIth century have been reported.

Moyse Charas testament dictated to a notary on January 12th 1698, expresses the last will of a Catholic who had abjured protestantism.

Nowadays concepts of Art are quite different from those of Antiquity. For instance, the healing ex votos which were sculpted in wood and dedicated to Sequana in the IIIrd century were undoubtedly seen as crude works: today, they are considered as expressions of popular arts, just like african statues. If art is defined by an esthetic purpose, and not only pragmatic, we can see no trace of sicks in the arts of Late Antiquity. There are only some examples in christian art, where Jesus' healing miracles are illustrated. Their iconographic representation doesn't dissociate illness from healing. This fact is highly representative of a christian iconographic programme, linking illness to carnal condition and healing to salvation. So, the arts of Late Antiquity teach us almost anything about disease, but very much about the perception of it and its pastoral use.

The history of the Soavinandriana Hospital is remarkable for several reasons. The oldest hospital on the island, this institution is the product of the combined efforts of English Christian missionaries, French colonists, and native Madagascans. Its history has always been closely linked to political events in Madagascar and the successive names often reflect Franco-Malagasy relations. The hospital which was long the crown jewel of the "colonial" health corps still provides a framework for harmonious cooperation between French and Malagasy military physicians. The institution has always been on the forefront of medicine in Madagascar and, despite current problems, is still the best-equipped health facility on the island. Thanks to the quality of care and the dedication and competence of its staff, the hospital has succeeded in maintaining patient attendance from all classes of society. The hospital which in its over 100-year history has witnessed two momentous occasions with the visits of the last Queen and the first President of the Republic now stands on the threshold of a renaissance and could become a model for successful Franco-Malagasy cooperation.

A review on Albert Schweitzer's doctoral thesis "The psychiatric study on Jesus" and his analysis of the delirium of persecution, megalomania and hallucination in order to refuse different authors hypothesis about the Jesus, psychosis or paranoia. The author highlights the symbolism of Schweitzer's decision for studying medicine and dedicating his life and efforts to the full of need men of Africa so the importance of his philosophic studies on the western culture.

Accounts of French Renaissance travels to America reveal how Europeans described a newly discovered "Other," and, indirectly, the "Self." Guy Poirier analyzes in his article how the images of acts against nature and prodigies could, at the same time, be linked to a European "épistémè" and construct an ideological discourse of their own.

The influence of the Huguenots upon the practice of dentistry in England has received so little attention that their contribution has been largely overlooked, even though the competence of one particular family, the Hemets, led to royal appointments for three successive generations. This paper seeks to begin to redress the balance by chronicling some of the activities of this family.

Philippe Pinel received an excellent education from the Fathers of the Christian Doctrine whose recently discovered library is here analyzed. New facts about his first teacher, Jean-Pierre Gorsse, indicate that he, too, was a student of the Doctrinaires and that a benefice requiring the tonsure passed to Pinel when Gorsse married in 1759.