Sentiment de Mr. Chirac sur les fièvres intermittentes. Manuscript lecture notes

Sentiment de Mr. Chirac sur les fièvres intermittentes. Manuscript document in a neat and legible hand, likely that of a scribe. 56pp. (possibly incomplete). N.p., n.d. [late 17th - early 18th century]. 247 x 194 mm., except for last 4 leaves which measure 255 x 180 mm. Unbound. Edges frayed, last 4 leaves with marginal tears and damage affecting several lines of text, some toning and spotting but very good.

Contemporary manuscript notes of Chirac's unpublished lectures on intermittent fevers, most likely taken by a student attending Chirac's medical courses at the University of Montpellier. Chirac taught at Montpellier from 1687 to 1708, then relocated to Paris where he enjoyed great success, becoming physician to Philippe d'Orléans and later to Louis XV. He worked to establish an academy of medicine in Paris, one that would draw on the observations and expertise of physicians both in France and abroad, but his plan aroused the professional jealousy of the Faculté de Paris and was abandoned after his death. Chirac published little during his lifetime, so manuscript records such as these provide valuable insight into his teachings and into the medical practices and beliefs of his day. Our manuscript, written in a mixture of French and Latin, is divided into 16 sections discussing various types of intermittent fevers—including the tertian and quartan forms of malaria, hectic fevers, malignant fevers, etc.—and their treatment.