Une réflexion sur la forme des salles d’hôpital : le mémoire du médecin Hugues Maret et son illustration par Jacques-Germain Soufflot

Abstract

Following the fire that destroyed the Paris Hôtel-Dieu in 1772, the government entrusted the Académie des Sciences with the task of designing a new establishment according to the medical norms of the day. The memoir of the doctor Hugues Maret, illustrated by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, is a part of this debate about the best form to be given to hospital buildings. It allows an analysis of what may be called pre-pasteurian aerism: air in movement contributes to the healing processes and becomes mortal if it stagnates. The text announces other evolutions during the nineteenth century which will make the hospital a collective facility and a ‘healing machine’ in the service of the population.

Keywords

• aerisme
• hospital commision
• Hôtel-Dieu de Paris
• Dijon academy of science
• Hugues Maret
• Jacques-Germain Soufflot