{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,27]],"date-time":"2026-09-27T04:55:16Z","timestamp":1790484916795,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2001,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The medical content of a hundred selected French novels written between 1815 and 1914 has been examined. These books reflect contemporary public interest in medicine and disease. By means of translated quotations, the spectrum of diseases common at the time, including conditions nowadays rarely or never observed, such as smallpox and diphtheria, are graphically described, along with the effects of treatment of syphilis with mercury and the ravages of tuberculosis including lupus vulgaris. Some diseases which were not understood in the nineteenth century such as cretinism due to iodine deficiency may be recognised by the modern reader while other illnesses, convincingly described, are now unidentifiable. In the novels one can trace the transition from the humoral theory of disease to modern diagnoses and the advent of surgery and its complications. These extracts complement textbooks of the history of medicine by third-party depiction of the observed impact of disease upon the individual.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/mh.27.2.82","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,27]],"date-time":"2002-07-27T06:32:19Z","timestamp":1027751539000},"page":"82-88","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Some medical syndromes encountered in nineteenth-century French literature"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Margaret M","family":"Platts","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2001,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.1","unstructured":"Bernard C. Introduction \u00c3\u00a0 la m\u00c3\u00a9decine exp\u00c3\u00a9rimentale. Paris: Bailli\u00c3\u00a9re et fils, 1865."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.2","unstructured":"De Balzac H. Le cousin Pons. Paris: Biblioth\u00c3\u00a9que de Pl\u00c3\u00a9iade, Gallimard, 1977: 669."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.3","unstructured":"Constant B. Adolphe. Paris: G F Flammarion, 1989: 153-5."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.4","unstructured":"De Balzac H. La cousine Bette. Paris: Livre de Poche 952, 1984: 190 and 377."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.5","unstructured":"Nouveau dictionnaire de med\u00c3\u00a9cine et chirugie. Paris: Bailli\u00c3\u00a9re et fils, 1874."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.6","unstructured":"De Balzac H. Ursule Mirou\u00c3\u00abt. Paris: Folio Classique, Gallimard, 1981."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.7","unstructured":"Rothfield L. Vital signs. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992: 38."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.8","first-page":"246","volume":"11","year":"1983","journal-title":"Nineteenth-Century French Studies"},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.9","unstructured":"See reference 4: 466."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.10","unstructured":"See reference 4: 468."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.11","unstructured":"Bonnet-Roy R. BALZAC les m\u00c3\u00a9decins, la m\u00c3\u00a9decine et la science. Paris: Horizons de France, 1944: 71."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.12","unstructured":"Flaubert G. L'\u00c3\u00a9ducation sentimentale. Paris: G M Flammarion, 1984: 350."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.13","unstructured":"Flaubert G. Madame Bovary. Paris: G M Flammarion, 1984."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.14","unstructured":"Zola E. Nana. Paris: Collection Folio 956, Editions Gallimard, 1977: 474."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.15","unstructured":"Zola E. L'Assommoir. Paris: Livre de Poche 97, Fasquelle, 1979: 484-5."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.16","unstructured":"Magnan. Etude \u00c3\u00a9xperimentale et clinique sure l'alcoolisme. Paris: Acad\u00c3\u00a9mie de Med\u00c3\u00a9cine, 1874."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.17","first-page":"195","volume":"46","year":"1992","journal-title":"L'Assommoir. Symposium"},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.18","unstructured":"Dumas fils, A. La dame aux cam\u00c3\u00a9llias. Paris: Bookking International, 1994."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.19","unstructured":"Daudet A. L'\u00c3\u00a9vangeliste. Paris: E Flammarion, 1880."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.20","unstructured":"Zola E. Lourdes. Paris: Biblioth\u00c3\u00a9que Charpentier, 1894; 390."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.21","unstructured":"Huysmanns J-K. Les foules de Lourdes. Paris: Librairie Plon, Plon et Nourrit, 1926."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.22","first-page":"89","volume":"94","year":"1996","journal-title":"Romantisme"},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.23","unstructured":"De Goncourt E, Goncourt J. Charles Demailly. Paris: Collection 10\/18, 1990."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.24","unstructured":"De Maupassant G. Le lit 29. In: Boule de suif. Paris: Livre de Poche 650, Albin Michel, 1984. Barbey d'Aurevilly J. La vengeance d'une femme. In: Les diaboliques. Paris: Libraire Alphonse Lemerre, 1874."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.25","unstructured":"Huysmans J-K. A Rebours. Paris: Collection Folio 898, Gallimard, 1977: 169-170."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.26","unstructured":"Brieux E. Three plays by Brieux [translated by Shaw Mrs B, Hankin St J, Pollock J]. London: AC Fifield, 1911: 195."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.27","unstructured":"Descaves L. In: Tresse, Stock, eds. Sous-offs [16th ed]. Paris: Collections Ressources, 1889-90. Couvreur A. Le mal n\u00c3\u00a9cessaire. Paris: Librairie Plon, Plon et Nourrit, 1899."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.28","unstructured":"Adam P. In: Brancart A, ed. Chair molle. Brussels, 1885: 85-8."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.29","first-page":"705","volume":"1","year":"1975","journal-title":"Correspondence"},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.30","unstructured":"De Balzac H. Le p\u00c3\u00a9re Goriot. Paris: Folio 784, Gallimard, 1971: 53."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.31","unstructured":"De Balzac H. Le m\u00c3\u00a9decin de campagne. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 1976: 21."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.32","unstructured":"Goncourt E, Goncourt J. Soeur Philom\u00c3\u00a9ne. Paris: Collection Guillaume, 1890: 63."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.33","unstructured":"Zola E. Docteur Pascal. Oeuvres compl\u00c3\u00a9tes 6. Paris: Cercle du Livre Pr\u00c3\u00a9cieux, 1967: 1145-1401."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.34","unstructured":"De Maupassant G. A life (Une vie) [translated by Laurie M and W]. London: Morrison and Gibb, 1949."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.35","unstructured":"Daudet A. Jack. Paris: E Flammarion, c 1875."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.36","unstructured":"Daudet L. Les morticoles. Paris: Biblioth\u00c3\u00a9que Charpentier, 1894."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.37","unstructured":"Sue E. Le juif errant. Paris: Nouvelles \u00c3\u00a9ditions Oswald, 1978."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.38","unstructured":"Huysman J-K. Sac au dos. In Soir\u00c3\u00a9es de M\u00c3\u00a9dan. Paris: Charpentier, 1880."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.39","unstructured":"See reference 20: 401."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.40","unstructured":"Zola E. La joie de vivre. Paris: Bibiloth\u00c3\u00a9que de la Pl\u00c3\u00a9iade, 1964."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.41","unstructured":"Zola E. F\u00c3\u00a9condit\u00c3\u00a9. Oeuvres compl\u00c3\u00a9tes 8. Paris: Cercle du Livre Pr\u00c3\u00a9cieux, Fasquelle, 1968. Dubut de Laforest J-L. Le docteur mort-aux-gosses. Paris: Fayard Fr\u00c3\u00a9res, 1978. Dubarry A. In: Conchon F, ed. Les femmes eunuques. Paris, 1899."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.42","unstructured":"Zola E. Le d\u00c3\u00a9b\u00c3\u00a2cle. Biblioth\u00c3\u00a9que Charpentier, 1892."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.43","unstructured":"See reference 41: Dubarry: 125-9."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.44","unstructured":"See reference 36: 59-60."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.45","unstructured":"Le Yeouanc M. Nosographie de l'humanit\u00c3\u00a9 Balzacienne [thesis]. University of Paris, Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Librairie Maloine, 1959."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.46","unstructured":"Winter MT. Valetudinarians and monomaniacs. Illness in selected works of La Com\u00c3\u00a9die Humaine [PhD thesis]. New York Graduate Faculty in French: 1984."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.47","first-page":"15","volume":"46","year":"1990","journal-title":"Symposium"},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.48","unstructured":"Bronte C. Jane Eyre. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1994."},{"key":"2025092411515567000_27.2.82.49","unstructured":"Daudet A. Le petit chose. Paris: Fasquelle, 1947."}],"container-title":["Medical Humanities"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/mh.27.2.82","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T18:52:04Z","timestamp":1758739924000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/mh.27.2.82"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2001,12]]},"references-count":49,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2001,12,1]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2001,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/mh.27.2.82"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/mh.27.2.82","relation":{},"ISSN":["1468-215X","1473-4265"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1468-215X","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4265","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2001,12]]}}}