[Edouard Brissaud (1852-1909), historian of medicine]

Among The Brissauds, teaching history was a family job. Edouard's father was a history teacher at the Lycee Charlemagne in Paris and his mother taught history in her own private school. Several uncles and cousins wrote history books. Edouard Brissaud, beloved Charcot's disciple, médecin des hôpitaux and agrégé, wrote some short historical papers, for instance The King's disease, Charles of Guyenne's death, Scarron's disease, Théophile de Bordeu's eulogy, Couthon's infirmity. Two full papers deal with controversial contemporary problems: vivisection and microbial theory. His Histoire des expressions populaires relatives à l'anatomie, à la physiologie et à la médecine, published in 1888, is a true small masterpiece which was appreciated by Anatole France. In 1899, Edouard Brissaud, succeeded Joseph Laboulbène (1825-1889) in the Chair of History of medicine at the Paris medical school. He was extensively congratulated for his inaugural lecture. One year later, like many of his colleagues, he left this Chair for that of Medical Pathology.