Jacques-René Tenon
Jacques-René Tenon | |
|---|---|
 Sketch of Jacques-René Tenon, aged ninety | |
| Born | 21 February 1724 |
| Died | 16 January 1816 (aged 91) |
| Nationality | Frankreich |
| Known for | capsule of Tenon, Hôpital Tenon. |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | surgery |
| Doctoral advisor | Jacques-Bénigne Winslow |
Jacques-René Tenon (French pronunciation: [ʒakʁne tənɔ̃], 21 February 1724 – 16 January 1816) was a French surgeon born near the town of Joigny. His seminal treatise on hospital design and management, the Mémoire sur les hôpitaux de Paris (Memoirs on the Hospitals of Paris), proved to be influential in Europe for more than a century.
Early life and education
Born into a family of surgeons, Jacques-René Tenon was the eldest of 11 children. He spent his youth in Courtenay, a town in northern France. Following the family line, he left for Paris to study surgery in 1741. He was supported by a generous relative, the lawyer Nicolas Prévot.
During his studies, Tenon managed to attract the favour of Jacques-Bénigne Winslow, a renowned doctor who taught at the Jardin du Roi, and thanks to whom he was able to deepen and practice his medical knowledge. Winslow also invited him to work in his laboratory.
In 1745, he was appointed military surgeon during the War of Austrian Succession and took part in campaigns in Flanders, where he completed his training as a surgeon.
In 1749, a few months after his return, he was admitted to the competition of principal surgeon of the hospitals of Paris. He was assigned to the Salpêtrière general hospital (a hospital-prison for women), the counterpart of Bicêtre for men. This institution was occupied by more than six thousand people, including nearly 500 patients. He cared for the women and gave lessons to his many students. During this time, he promoted the practice of inoculation for smallpox.
Career
In 1757, he acceded to the chair of pathology at the College of Surgery. It was in this capacity that he obtained permission and funding to build a small hospital adjoining the College of Surgery. This provided an opportunity for Tenon to explore new therapies and to refine his thinking on the administration of hospitals.
In May 1759, he entered the Royal Academy of Sciences.
In 1785, the Academy of Sciences was commissioned by Louis XIV to evaluate his reconstruction plans for the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. In response to this mandate, the Academy empanelled a special hospital committee, whose members were Tenon, as well as other famous scientists including Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743–1794), Coulomb (1736–1806), and Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827).[1] This was the context in which he would, in 1788, publish his conclusions as his famous Memoir on the hospitals of Paris.
Elected deputy for Seine-et-Oise in the Legislative Assembly in 1791, Tenon was appointed first president of the Committee for Public Relief, and commissioned a major survey of hospitals in 1791, which made it possible to know with some precision the number of establishments and their abilities throughout the Republic, something the Monarchy had never managed to do under the Old Regime. He was not re-elected under the Convention and Tenon, disapproving of its excesses, retired to his lands in Massy in 1793.
Despite his election to the Institut de France in 1795, and despite the pressing demands of Bonaparte, he he refused to renew his involvement political life.
His house was looted and ransacked by Russian soldiers in July 1815. He then took refuge in Paris, where he died a few months later on January 16, 1816. He was buried in Division 10 of the Père-Lachaise cemetery.
Influence on hospital organisation
In 1788, Tenon published the Mémoire sur les hôpitaux de Paris (Memoirs on the Hospitals of Paris),[2] a treatise that provided a well documented and detailed account of Parisian hospitals. Using evidence and scientific analysis, the treatise dealt with such subjects as hygiene, patient care, management of staff, the keeping of patient records and case histories and environmental conditions.
Context
The development of Tenon's treatise took place in the context of public debate on what was to be done about the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris, an ancient hospital located in central Paris near Notre Dame. In the 18th century, the Hôtel-Dieu was notoriously overcrowded, unsanitary, and susceptible to fire. It was used almost exclusively by destitute patients who had no other options. It had a reputation of being a "death-trap"[3] because of its sordid conditions and high death rate. Two serious fires had occurred in 1737 and 1772.[4] The 1772 fire destroyed a large part of the Hôtel-Dieu and killed many patients.[5] Public outrage at the loss of life sparked more systematic discussions of possible reforms to the hospital system.[6].
In 1785, thirteen years after the 1772 fire, the project of the architect Bernard Poyet (1742-1824) was presented in a memoir entitled "On the need to transfer and rebuild the Hôtel-Dieu," written by Claude Coquéau (1755-1794). Poyet proposed to build a circular hospital on an island on the Seine. It was to be an exterior replica of the Colosseum in Rome, with over 5,000 beds and an efficient system of air circulation (constant renewal of the air).
The Baron de Breteuil (1730-1807), secretary of the King's Household, instructed the Royal Academy of Sciences to evaluate the Poyet project. For this purpose a commission of 9 members was created, Jacques Tenon was a member of this commission, as were such luminaries as Lavoisier, Laplace and Coulomb.
This commission published three successive reports. The 1786 report concluded that the Poyet project was excessive and that the proposed location was unhealthy. The 1787 report recommended that four smaller hospitals be established in various locations around Paris, while that of 1788 proposes a pavilion-style hospital, with each ward occupying a separate building to reduce disease transmission and to facilitate ventilation.
Tenon and Coulomb were asked by the commission to carry out a study mission to England in June and July 1787. They visited the Royal Naval Hospital, Stonehouse, a suburban hospital, built between 1758 and 1764 near Plymouth.
The outbreak of the French Revolution radically altered the political landscape which the commission's work was evolving, though it remained influential. In 1788, Tenon published his own report Memoirs on the hospitals of Paris, the most comprehensive work of its time on hospital organisation.
Eponyms
The Hôpital Tenon, a major hospital in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, is named after him, as is the capsule of Tenon, a membrane that envelops the posterior five-sixths of the eyeball.[7] He provided a description of the "capsule of Tenon" in 1805.[8]
Bibliography
- Transfer of the Hotel Dieu; Google Books
- Simonsz, H J (2003), "First description of eye muscle 'poulies' by Tenon in 1805.", Strabismus, vol. 11, no. 1 (published Mar 2003), pp. 59–62, doi:10.1076/stra.11.1.59.14092, PMID 12789584
- Roth, A; Mühlendyck, H; De Gottrau, Ph (2002), "[The function of Tenon's capsule revisited]", Journal français d'ophtalmologie, vol. 25, no. 9 (published Nov 2002), pp. 968–76, PMID 12515947
- Dechaume, M; Huard, P; Imbault-Huart, M J (1978), "[Jacques-René Tenon, odontologist and stomatologist]", Actualités odonto-stomatologiques, no. 122 (published Jun 1978), pp. 221–33, PMID 362836
- Greenbaum, LS (1975), ""Measure of civilization": the hospital thought of Jacques Tension on the eve of the French Revolution", Bull Hist Med, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 43–56, PMID 1093584
References
- ^ GREENBAUM, LOUIS S. (1975). ""MEASURE OF CIVILIZATION": THE HOSPITAL THOUGHT OF JACQUES TENON ON THE EVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 49 (1): 43–56. ISSN 0007-5140 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Tenon, Jacques (1786). Mémoire sur les hôpitaux de Paris (in French) (1 ed.). Paris: Pierres. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
- ^ RICHMOND, PHYLLIS ALLEN (1961). "The Hôtel-Dieu of Paris on the Eve of the Revolution". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 16 (4): 335–353. ISSN 0022-5045.
- ^ RICHMOND, PHYLLIS ALLEN (1961). "The Hôtel-Dieu of Paris on the Eve of the Revolution". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 16 (4): 335–353. ISSN 0022-5045.
- ^ "Hotel Dieu". London Science Museum. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
- ^ Risse, Guenter B. "Mending Bodies, Saving Souls". Oxford University Press. p. 295.
- ^ Practical anatomy by John Clement Heisler
- ^ Tenon JR, Naus J, Blanken R (March 2003), "Anatomical observations on some parts of the eye and eyelids. 1805", Strabismus, 11 (1): 63–8, doi:10.1076/stra.11.1.63.14089, PMID 12789585.
