Pierre Augustin Béclard

Biography of Pierre Augustin Béclard

Pierre Augustin Béclard received his first medical training in the Hôtel-Dieu in Angers, where he was Interne for four years. He came to Paris in 1808 and won various prizes through competitive examinations. He became prosector in 1811 and soon thereafter chief of anatomical work. In 1811 he also received his medical doctorate with a dissertation in which are collected a number of important treatises of which some had already been partly published in the Bulletin de la Faculté de médecin. In 1815 he became surgeon at the Hôpital de la Pitié, and here, as otherwise, proved himself a dextrous operator.

For some years he held very popular private courses of anatomy and surgery, and in 1818 was appointed to the chair of anatomy at the faculty. He now devoted himself to a highly successful teaching of anatomy, being one of the most learned anatomists of his time. He pioneered various procedures for partial amputations of the feet, exarticulation of the metacarpus, of the upper arm and the femur, as well as a new method of therapy for fistula of the ductus stenonianus.

He was one of the chief editors of the Nouveau journal de médecine. With Jules Cloquet (1790-1883) he translated Traité des hernies by William Lawrence (1783-1867). This work was first published in London in 1807 as Treatise on hernia etc. 2nd and later edition as A treatise on ruptures, London 1810. The translation is probably from the 3rd edition, London, 1816.