Talk 'The medical world and public health policies in Montpellier during the Age of Enlightenment'

Pierre-Yves Lacour (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier)

Montpellier was one of the capitals of European medicine in the 18th century, with its scholarly institutions, educational establishments, and record level of medicalization. Much research has been conducted on medicine in this city, but none has focused on the social space of health and “medical policing” in Montpellier during the Age of Enlightenment. This is the subject of a long social history investigation. I present the first stages of this research project in two main parts. The analysis of the medical world is divided into five sections devoted to the institutional network of medicine, the topography of health professions, the boundaries and hierarchies of professional groups, family reproduction and marriage alliances, and the trajectories of two families. The study of public health policies is also divided into five sections devoted to epidemics and epizootics, military medicine in hospitals, the market for remedies, smallpox vaccination, and workers' health.