Dissertation physiaque et medicale sur l'humidite consideree en general, et en particulier a bord des vaisseaux dans les regions equatorials.

ROUILLARD, Rene [-Jean], navy surgeon 1st Class. Dissertation physiaque et medicale sur l'humidite considérée en general, et en particulier a bord des vaisseaux dans les regions equatorials; Présentée et soutenue à l'Ecole de Médecine de Montpellier, le 8 Août 1807...pour obtenir le titre de docteur en médecine. 4to, pp. [6], 64, [1], stitched, uncut. Montpellier: De l'Imprimerie de August Ricard [1807].

Only Edition. A fine, wide-margined copy, of a work on naval medicine in the tropics, humidity and temperature in particular, by Rouillard (1775-1859), chevalier de la Legion-d'Honneur, "Membre Correspondent de la Societé Medicale d'Emulation de Paris." There are approximately 160 words of manuscript notes on the effects of temperature and humidity in a contemporary hand in the margins of p. 5. Rouillard, a native of Nantes, studied medicine there at the Hotel-Dieu, and continued in Brest at the Ecole de la Marine, under the direction of the celebrated Duret. He became a first class deputy naval surgeon, serving on several government vessels, assisting in several combats, and was at one point taken prisoner by the English. His captivity was not of long duration due to the intervention of a superior officer who owed his life to Rouillard. Rouillard was named surgeon-in-chief of the Vétéran, commanded by Prince Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte, who he would later serve as first surgeon when Jérôme Napoleon was made King of Westphalia. The Vétéran, a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, left Brest under Bonaparte on 13 December 1805, as part of Willaumez division, to participate in what became the Atlantic campaign of 1806. "The Great Coastal Hurricane scattered the division and Veteran found herself isolated. She cruised off Quebec, destroying merchantmen and skirmishing with Royal Navy forces..."-Wikipedia. After the peace of 1815 Rouillard returned to Nantes, where he remained for the remainder of his life, practicing his art with great distinction. See, Jean-Pierre Kerneis, René-Jean Rouillard, chirurgien navigans de Nantes, médecin de l'Amiral Bonaparte (1969); Brisou and Sardet, Dictionnaire des médecins, chirurgiens et pharmaciens de la Marine de 1666 à 1940, and Almanach pour Annuaire de l'Horticulteur Nantais...pour l'Année Bissextile 1860 (Nantes: 1860), vol. II. pp. 584-585. OCLC records one copy in this country (Harvard), three in France (BN; Paris-UP NIU Sante Medecine; Strasbourg 1-SCD Medecine), and two in England, both at BL. ABAA-VBF