Adam Chenot

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adam Chenot (born August 19, 1722 in Habaru-Lavaux , Wallonia , † May 12, 1789 in Vienna ) was a Belgian - Luxembourg doctor, medical physician and protomedicus in Transylvania .

Life

Adam Chenot was born in Habaru-Lavaux near Arlon . There are different details regarding his date of birth and place of birth. However, a birth certificate could be found in the State Archives in Arlon, stating that Chenot was born and baptized in the municipality of Habaru on August 19, 1722 as the son of the miller Lambert Chenot and the miller Anna, born Paquot. Chenot studied medicine in Vienna. There he became acquainted with Gerard van Swieten , the personal physician of Empress Maria Theresa. Van Swieten later became a patron of Chenot. On August 21, 1755, Chenot passed the medical exam and successfully defended the Hippocratic aphorisms. On imperial orders he was suddenly sent to Sibiu in Transylvania because the plague had broken out there. He was only able to receive his diploma there. In Sibiu was already in 1737 by Emperor Charles VI. a medical commission was established. Together with the surgeon Kurtz, Chenot traveled from Sibiu to Kronstadt to fight the plague in the Upper Suburbs. Chenot had this part of the city separated by a military cordon. On June 24, 1756, Chenot also fell ill with the plague, but he survived the disease. He wrote down his experiences in the Tractatus de peste . Fewer sick people died in Kronstadt than in the surrounding area. This was due to the medical and nursing care in the hospital. After successfully fighting the plague, on January 7, 1758, Chenot was appointed medical physics for Transylvania with its seat in Sibiu. He was housed by the magistrate in the Bausnerisches Haus in the Reispergase. Chenot went on visitation trips to Burzenland. Chenot made the medical commission very important. Chenot recommended quinine as a treatment for the plague and turned against bloodletting as a cure. Since it could be dangerous during the reign of a plague epidemic to use fire and incense if the wind was blowing from different directions, Chenot, unlike the Viennese doctor Paul de Sorbait in the previous century , advocated cleaning the contaminated things in water . Paul de Sorbait had spoken out in favor of burying the contaminated things. In 1770 Wallachian refugees caused a renewed outbreak of the plague, which reached Kronstadt and Fogaras and the surrounding areas. Chenot advocated two military plague cordons, one of which led over the Red Tower Pass . Due to his keen powers of observation, Chenot sometimes advocated shortening the Kontumaz.

Experience with the plague

Chenot reported that the plague sufferers were lying in their rubbish, that the necessary number of surgeons, messengers, buyers, doormen, cooks and nurses were not available and that the plague regulations could therefore not be observed. The available nurses are crude, the doctors' healing methods are often harmful and the hospitals are overcrowded. Sometimes the dead and the living would be in the same bed because the bodies had not yet been removed. In many places, monks and pastors are the only ones who would comfort the sick. Chenot's experiences with the plague were published in 1799 by his pupil Franciscus (Franz) Schraud from the documents he left behind.

Protomedicus of Transylvania

In 1774, Chenot became Protomedicus of Transylvania. As such, he oversaw doctors, surgeons , midwives and pharmacists . He was also confronted with frequent syphilis . In connection with the fight against this disease, he complained about the extra work for doctors due to "administrative burdens" such as recording patient data or setting up hospitals. All of this should not be placed above individual care if the relationship of trust between the doctor and patient should not be tarnished. In 1779, Chenot was called to Jassy by the Moldovan voivode Constantin Moruzi to examine his daughter Sultana. Chenot found the patient to be hysteria . In November 1783, Chenot traveled to Vienna (cf. Vienna Medical School ) and held the position of medical council and consultant in medical and contumaz matters. Adam Chenot died on May 12, 1789 in Vienna. Heart palpitations are stated as the cause of death on the death certificate. Chenot was buried in the Matzleinsdorf cemetery.

Honor

  • September 19, 1771: Chenot received the first class gold medal from Empress Maria Theresa for his success in combating the plague.

Works

  • Tractatus de Peste , Trattner Vindobonae 1766.
  • Franz Schraud: Adami Chenot Historia pestis transilvanicae annorum 1770 et 1771 , Buda (Ofen) 1799.

literature

  • Edmond Knaff: Adam Chenot (Chenotus), 1721–1789 , in: Publications de la Section Historique de l'Institut Grand-Ducal de Luxembourg , 64 (2nd edition 1930), pp. 235–236.
  • Arnold Huttmann : Medicine in old Transylvania , Hora Hermannstadt / Sibiu 2000, pp. 307-325.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arnold Huttmann 2000 S. 316th
  2. ↑ a b Erna Lesky : Austrian Health Service in the Age of Enlightened Absolutism , Vienna 1959, p. 62.
  3. ↑ a b Georg Sticker : Treatises from epidemic history and epidemic theory , Volume I: The plague , first part: The history of the plague , Alfred Töpelmann Gießen 1908, pages 248 + 258.
  4. ↑ a b c Georg Sticker : Treatises from epidemic history and epidemic theory , Volume I: The plague , Part two: The plague as a plague and as a plague , Alfred Töpelmann Gießen 1908, pages 323, 324, 480.
  5. ^ Hilde Schmölzer : The plague in Vienna. "The angry Todts an incomplete description ..." , here: The antechamber of death , Österreichischer Bundesverlag 1985.
  6. ↑ Klaus Bergdolt : The conscience of medicine. Medical morality from antiquity to today , CH Beck Munich 2004, p. 184.
personal data
SURNAME Chenot, Adam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Transylvanian doctor, medical physician and Protomedicus of Transylvania
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1722
PLACE OF BIRTH Habaru – Lavaux , Wallonia
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 1789
Place of death Vienna