Les techniques chirurgicales autour de 1800 entre France et Grande-Bretagne: les enjeux des échanges

The superiority of Parisian medicine, as constructed by historiography, has minimized the importance of exchanges between France and Great Britain around 1800. Studying medical communication, the paper establishes the rise of exchanges, through translations and periodical literature at the end of the eighteenth century, and as a consequence, the violent cessation of communication as a consequence of the wars between the French and British empires. Mirroring transfers, literature in print mirrored other logics : those of the book or medical trades. Analyzing the acceleration of medical students’ travels between Paris and London, the paper discusses the reason behind them : the low cost of clinical education attracted many Scots to Paris, who thus hoped to succeed in their British careers.