Pierre-Antoine-Joseph du Monchaux
Pierre-Antoine-Joseph du Monchaux (17 December 1733 – c.1766) was a French physician and author.
Contents
Biography
Pierre-Antoine-Joseph du Monchaux was born in Bouchain. He is known mostly for a work entitled Bibliographie Médicale Raisonnée, ou Essai sur Exposition des œuvres les plus utiles à ceux qui se destinent à l'étude de la médecine (1756), published when the author was barely twenty-three years of age.[1]
In 1761, he used the name and fame of Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg to sell his own works[2] including Anecdotes de Médecine.[3] Dubourg[4] immediately wrote a formal denial of authorship.[5] Pierre-Antoine-Joseph du Monchaux later denounced himself.[6] Monchaux was a doctor of the military hospitals of Douai. The affair remained there. Nevertheless, the work in question acquired some notoriety[7] and had a second edition, by Panckoucke, in two volumes (1766).
The precise time of death of doctor du Monchaux, who arrived around 1766 in Saint-Domingue, is unknown.
Works
- Bibliographie Médicale Raisonnée (1756)
- Étrennes d'un Médecin à sa Patrie (1761)
- Anecdotes de Médecine (1762; 1766)
Notes
- ↑ It is a speech almost entirely devoted to the analysis of Buffon's writings, and to demonstrate how useful the knowledge of natural history and mathematics is to physicians. The works he talks about the least are those of medicine.
- ↑ Quérard, J. M. (1869). Les Supercheries Littéraires Dévoilées. Paris: Paul Daffis.
- ↑ The preface, addressed "To my friend, Mr. L. C. D. M. C. D. L." was signed: "Barb... du B..., doct. reg. of the Faculty of Medicine in the Univ. of Paris, in Paris, July 31, 1761". Everyone read, under these initials, the name of Barbeu Dubourg (See Mémoires Secrets pour Servir à l'Histoire de la République des Lettres. London, 1784, t. I, p. 86. ), and the polemic started. Grimm decried the author (See Correspondance Littéraire, Philosophique et Critique, etc., by M. Tourneux. Paris, 1877, t. V, p. 76.); the Journal de Médecine, Chirurgie, Pharmacie commented, arguing from the exaggerated praises that the preface awarded to Lorry that Dubourg, altered by the advertisement, hoped for a return: asinus asinum fricat.
- ↑ This misunderstanding almost caused a rift between Dubourg and Lorry.
- ↑ Letters to the Journal de Médecine, Chirurgie, Pharmacie (juin 1762), p. 562; and to the Journal des Sçavans (Juin 1762), in-12, p. 1328. The letters were also inserted in the Gazette of Medicine, No. 22 (17 Mars 1762).
- ↑ He sent the following letter to Barbeu: From Douay, March 22, 1762. "Sir, I owe you thanks for the kind way in which you have spoken of the Anecdotes de Médecine; I take this opportunity to show you the greatest esteem and also to give you the word of what seems to you an enigma in my procedure. So you think, Sir, that I would be very embarrassed to say why I ended my dedication to M. Le Clerc de Montlinot, physician and surgeon of Lille, with a signature which is precisely half of yours. Eh! no. It is the reverse of the great events by the small causes, it is the effect of the self-esteem, this so powerful intimate feeling, and of this other paternal love, affection always so irresistible. I am making a book: it is a child that must be established, that must be advanced: I find that by producing it under your name I can flatter myself that I am doing it a favor, and, quite naturally, I produce it under your name. I know that this is a little pyrrhic, but I beg your pardon, and in truth you risk nothing to forgive this little trick to someone who is as sincere, as willing and as respectful as I am. Sir, your most humble and obedient servant. "Du MONCHAU".
- ↑ Anecdotes de Médecine is of especial interest for containing the oldest known medical report of near-death experiences.
External links
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