“Digression on ‘Contempt’ in Gaspard Bachot’s Medical Work Les Erreurs populaires”

Abstract

Digressions are not uncommon in medical treatises published in France during the Seventeenth century, but rare are those of more than a few pages in length, and rarer those that treat of « le mespris ». The digression we consider here is found in Les Erreurs populaires, by Gaspard Bachot (1570-1630), a bourbonnnais physician, conseiller et médecin du Roy, in Moulin. We first situate this digression which takes up eleven pages of Bachot’s book, in the context of the medical knowledge of the period, and trace its genre and its genesis: Bachot’s Erreurs were written as a continuation of the Montpellier Professor of Medicine Laurent Joubert’s own Les Erreurs populaires. We then show the reasons of the contempt shown, during the period, in and for medicine, as an academic physician like Bachot sees them. Finally, his balanced view of the established hierarchy of the medical professions, leads him to propose a set of Commandments that need to be honoured by young physicians, in order to ensure a professional ethical conduct.