André Levret

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André Levret ( Jean-Siméon Chardin )

André Levret , also André Levrette (born January 6, 1703 in Paris , †  January 22, 1780 ibid) was a French surgeon and obstetrician.

Life

Andre Levret was one of the most famous French midwives of the 18th century. He was a contemporary of the famous English obstetrician William Smellie , and together with Jean-Louis Baudelocque he advanced the science of obstetrics in France in the 18th century.

He turned entirely to obstetrics after completing his surgical studies. He was a close friend of the famous surgeon Antoine Louis (1723–1792) and was accoucheur de la Cour (obstetrician of the court) in 1760 , when he was Maria Josepha von Sachsen (1731–1767) , the mother of Louis XVI. , gave birth. Levret was an excellent obstetrician, famous in his day. He made particular contributions to the distribution, use and improvement of the forceps. He gave her a new lock, called the French lock. Since he provided her with a pelvic curve, he supplied an instrument that has since been used to operate via the pelvic outlet.

the first illustration of Levret's pelvic curve
Early illustration of Levret's pelvic bend from the H istoria literaria et critica forcipium et vectium obstetriciorum (1747)

He established safe and established indications for the use of this instrument. He earned no less merit than the forceps with the turning operation and the caesarean section .

He was the first in France to draw attention to the placenta previa and to venture to operate on polyps of the uterus (but only with the help of a ligature ). Students flocked to him from all over Europe who spread his fame. Georg Wilhelm Stein (1737–1803), Johann Lukas Boër (1751–1835), Johann Friedrich Osiander (1787–1855) and many others, who later became celebrated teachers themselves, are among his students. Levret's particular fondness for surgery meant that he overstepped natural boundaries, underestimated the forces of nature, and intervened far more often than was actually necessary. Because of this, and because of his considerable reputation, he founded his own school without intending to do so, which completely ignored the beneficial effects of the forces of nature and saw all salvation and the whole future of obstetrics only in the perfection of operations.

In 1743 Levret also developed a spatula to press the base of the tongue downwards. It was thus a forerunner instrument for direct laryngoscopy .

Levret was a professor at the Académie Royale de Chirurgie .

Works

  • Observations on the causes et les accidents de plusieurs accouchements laborieux. 4th edition. C. Osmont, Paris 1770.
  • Observations sur la cure radicale de plusieurs polypes de la matrice, de la gorge, et du nez. 3. Edition. Paris 1771.
  • Suite des observations sue les causes etc. Paris 1751.
  • Explication de plusieurs figures se le mécanisme de la grossesse et de l'accouchement. 1752.
  • L'art des accouchements etc. Delaguette, Paris 1753.
  • Essai sur l'abuse des règles générales etc. 1766.
  • Traité des accouchements laborieux. 1770.
  • Observations sur l'allaitements des enfants. 1781.

literature

  • Wilhelm Binder: General Realencyclopadie or Conversationslexicon for Catholic Germany. Verlag Georg Joseph Manz, Regensburg 1848, Volume 6, p. 735. ( online )
  • Werner Gerabek: Encyclopedia of Medical History. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 847.
  • August Hirsch : Biographical lexicon of the outstanding doctors of all times and peoples. Urban & Schwarzenberg Publishing House, Vienna / Leipzig 1886, Volume 3, pp. 694–695.
  • Aristide Verneuil: Conférences historiques, faites pendant l'Année 1865. Bailliere, Paris 1866. ( online , French)
  • MH Varnier: La fin et le Testament De Levret. In: Annales de gynécologie et d'obstétrique. Volume 58, Steinheil, Paris 1902, pp. 192-204. ( online , French) accessible with US proxy
  • Antoine Jacques Louis Jourdan: Dictionaire des Sciences Médicales - Biography Médicale. Volume 6, Panckoucke, Paris 1824, p. 34. ( online , French)
  • Nicolas Toussaint Lemoyne Desessarts: Les siècles littéraires de la France: ou Nouveau dictionnaire, historique, critique, et Bibliographique, De tous les Ecrivains francais, morts et vivans, jusqu'à la fin du XVIII. Siècle. Volume 4, Place de l'Odéon, Paris 1801, p. 155. ( online , French)
  • Biography universal, ancient et modern. Volume 24, LG Michaud, Paris 1819, p. 383. ( online , French)
  • Journal de la section de medicine. VC Mellinet, Nantes 1860, p. 35. ( online , French)
  • Daniel de La Roche, Philippe Petit-Radel: Encyclopédie Méthodique. Volume 2, Panckoucke, Paris 1792, p. 24. ( online , French)

Web links

Commons : André Levret  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Jetter: History of Medicine. Introduction to the development of medicine in all countries and times. Georg Thieme, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-13-766201-X , p. 279.
  2. ↑ Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Levret, André. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 847 f.
  3. ^ BR Marsh: Historic Development of Bronchoesophagology Otolaryngology. In: Head and Neck Surgery. June 1996, 114, pp. 689-716.
personal data
SURNAME Levret, André
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Levrette, André
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French gynecologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1703
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1780
Place of death Paris