John Cross, the author of an excellent memoir entitled “Sketches of the Medical Schools of Paris,” has written such a full and satisfactory account of la MaternitÉ and its admirable teaching machinery that I shall not hesitate to use it freely as my guide in preparing this and the following chapters. I am the more ready to adopt this course because, first, I have had no personal experience whatever with this department of medical science, and, second, because Dr. Cross’ account is not compiled from the writings of other physicians, but is based upon his own personal observations and upon information which he derived at first hand from Monsieur Chaussier, the Physician-in-Chief of the hospital. Here is what he writes (1815) upon this important subject:—

The midwifery department of l’HÔpital de la MaternitÉ is converted to an admirable purpose by being made a school for the educating of Sages-Femmes (midwives); and I was not a little surprised at my first entering this hospital with Monsieur Chaussier, the Physician-in-Chief, to find the wards crowded with female students. This midwifery-school was founded about twelve years ago (about 1803), since which time young women have come annually from all parts of France to study there. Some pursue their education at their own expense; but most of them are chosen by the Prefets of the different DÉpartements of France or by the governors of country hospitals, by whom all expenses are paid. For six-hundred francs these women are lodged, boarded and educated, during one year. They reside in the hospital, and cannot go out of its precincts without permission. After a twelve-months residence and an examination, they receive their diplomas from l’École de MÉdecine—or the FacultÉ de MÉdecine—to practice as midwives.... They follow the Physician and Surgeon in their daily visits, and each pupil makes a clinical report in writing of the patients under her care. The accuracy and minuteness of some of these reports, presented to Monsieur Chaussier during his visit, could not have been greater if they had been made by an experienced practitioner....

During the first five years of the existence of this École d’Accouchement, nearly five-hundred well-educated women were sent to practice midwifery in different parts of France.... In June, 1814, the month in which the new students are admitted, and those who have finished their education are dismissed, one-hundred and thirty, who had followed the lectures and practice of midwifery at la MaternitÉ during the preceding year, were examined, and received certificates of their being qualified to practice as accoucheuses.... Monsieur Baudelocque was, to the time of his death, a zealous promoter of this school of midwifery, and a copy of his catechism sur les Accouchements is given to each pupil as soon as she is admitted. This school is an institution which, from the novelty and excellence of the plan, the manner in which it is carried on, and the benefits that must spring from it to society, does honor to the country which has founded and supported it.... Les ÉlÈves Sages-Femmes who reside for twelve months at l’HÔpital de la MaternitÉ, and about whose instruction so much pains are taken and so much attention bestowed by the medical men attached to it, are, there can be little doubt, quite as good practitioners at the completion of their education, as the male students in midwifery in any country.

What is here written by Dr. Cross refers to the condition of la MaternitÉ as he found it in 1815,—that is, after the institution had been in successful operation for nearly if not quite twenty years. To go back to the time when it was first organized I should state that, upon the breaking up and disorganization of the FacultÉ de MÉdecine and the École de Chirurgie, there was erected, upon the ruins of these, l’École de SantÉ, in which Baudelocque was given the place of Professor of Obstetrics; and at the same time he was appointed “Surgeon-in-Chief and Accoucheur” of the recently established MaternitÉ. From the very first both the general public and the great majority of physicians reposed almost absolute confidence in Baudelocque, and consequently it is not strange that he was the guiding spirit in the development of this important hospital and training school.

Sprengel, the author of one of the earliest and best histories of medicine, gives unlimited praise to Baudelocque for the clearness, practical character and conciseness of his writings on the subject of midwifery. His treatise on obstetrics, he adds, is decidedly superior to that of the English surgeon, Thomas Denman, whose writings, which cover the same field, were published at about the same period of time.

As to the details of the management of la MaternitÉ, the mortality experienced, the number of infants born, etc.... I must refer the reader to Dr. Cross’ memoir, in which he gives, in addition, an account of the somewhat similar work done at the famous Dublin Lying-in Hospital. There remain, however, a number of interesting details concerning the life and career of Baudelocque which cannot well be omitted from this sketch, and I will therefore proceed at once to supply them here.

Professional jealousy, which seems to have existed in those days in a particularly virulent form, left Baudelocque very little peace of mind and undermined his health to a serious degree. One of the most striking experiences of this nature is the following:—

A certain Dr. Sacombe set out to increase his reputation—or, rather, to gain notoriety for himself—by attacking violently all those physicians who sanctioned the operation of Caesarian section as permissible in certain cases; and, inasmuch as Baudelocque was the most distinguished one among these physicians, he directed his most violent efforts against him. There having recently occurred, in the latter’s practice, a case of tedious labor in which it had been found necessary to remove the head of the foetus by amputation, Dr. Sacombe intimated that Baudelocque in this instance had been guilty of what apparently amounted to a double murder. Both public opinion and the courts were very prompt in judging this to be an infamous calumny on the part of the accuser. Although Baudelocque was completely exonerated from the charge, he nevertheless suffered keenly from the brutality of this attack upon his character. In fact, it was believed that the cerebral affection from which he died on May 2, 1810, was brought on by the worry which was associated with Dr. Sacombe’s attack. Shortly before his death the news reached him that he had been chosen to take charge of the Accouchement of the Empress, Marie Louise, but even this vindication failed to be of any benefit at that late hour.

The two most important treatises published by Baudelocque are the following: “Principes de l’Art par RÉponses, en Faveur des ÉlÈves Sages-Femmes,” Paris, 1775. This work was written entirely for the guidance of midwives, the Government purchasing 6000 copies. “l’Art des Accouchements,” Paris, 1781, 2 vols. Later editions were published in 1789, 1796, 1807, 1815 and 1822. Baudelocque also published a number of memoirs and reports of cases.

The success of la MaternitÉ as the great French Lying-in Hospital and Training School for Midwives was probably as much due to the wise and painstaking management of the widow Lachapelle as to the skill and great experience of Baudelocque. It is therefore only fitting that I should give here a brief biographic sketch of this admirable woman.

Veuve Lachapelle, whose maiden name was Marie-Louise DugÈs, was born at Paris on January 1, 1769. Her mother, Marie Jonet, was at first a sworn midwife (“Sage-Femme JurÉe”) at the Chatelet Hospital, but later (1775) she was promoted to the position of Midwife-in-Chief of HÔtel-Dieu, the largest hospital in Paris. Madame Jonet made her home in HÔtel-Dieu, and she performed the duties of her very responsible office with such zeal, such conspicuous ability, and such faithfulness that the Government awarded her, when she retired after a long service, a liberal pension. The daughter Marie, who had been brought up with great care under the constant supervision of her mother, and who had lived from day to day as it were in the midst of pregnant women and women actually undergoing confinement, absorbed unconsciously a great deal of information, both theoretical and practical, concerning the art of midwifery. Although she married, in 1792, Monsieur Lachapelle, the Resident Surgeon of the HÔpital Saint-Louis, she continued her residence at HÔtel-Dieu, with her mother, to whom she was strongly attached; and after the death of her husband, which occurred not long after they had been married, this attachment rather increased. Madame Lachapelle, who from this time onward was known as Veuve Lachapelle, showed such a keen interest in her work and performed all her hospital duties with such skill and such excellent judgment that in 1795 the Government appointed her the Associate Chief Midwife of HÔtel-Dieu.

At a somewhat later date, during the administration of Minister Chaptal, the MaternitÉ Hospital was organized, and Madame Lachapelle was made the Resident Directress of the new institution. Baudelocque was appointed Surgeon-in-Chief and Professor of Obstetrics, and Madame Lachapelle was given the position, under him, of Instructress in Midwifery. FranÇois Chaussier, Baudelocque’s successor and one of the most distinguished French physicians of that period, declared that Madame Lachapelle was a most successful teacher of the art of midwifery, and added that her usefulness in this field extended far beyond the period of her active connection with the MaternitÉ Hospital; for she had made a regular practice, during her residence in that institution, of keeping an immense number of carefully prepared records of the cases which came under her observation, and these, which form the basis of the volumes published after her death, by her nephew, constitute—as Chaussier believes—a most useful work of reference, second in value only to the great work of Baudelocque.

Veuve Lachapelle’s death occurred on October 4, 1821. The work referred to in the preceding paragraph bears the following title: “Pratique des Accouchemens, ou MÉmoires et Observations Choisies sur les Points les plus Importans de l’Art,” publiÉes par Antoine DugÈs, neveu de l’auteur, Paris, 1821–1825, 3 vols.