This article's lead sectionmay be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(October 2021)
Larrey was born in the little village of Beaudéan, in the Pyrenees as the son of a shoemaker, who later moved to Bordeaux. He was orphaned at the age of 13, and was then raised by his uncle Alexis, who was chief surgeon in Toulouse. After an 8-year apprenticeship,[1] he went to Paris to study under Pierre-Joseph Desault, who was chief surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. Larrey then went to Brest, where he was appointed surgeon in the navy and began lecturing. In 1787 he boarded a ship deployed to the defense of Newfoundland, and was, at nearly 21 years-old at the time, the youngest medical officer in the French Royal Navy.[1] While in America, Larrey took an interest in the local environment, writing observations on the local flora, fauna, climate and manners, which were published years later in his Mémoires de chirurgie militaire et campagnes du baron D.J. Larrey.[1]
Larrey's ambulance volante, used to evacuate casualties from the battlefield
A supporter of the ideas of the Revolution, Larrey joined the French Army of the Rhine in 1792, during the War of the First Coalition.[1]InMainz he met with Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring.[2] During this time, Larrey initiated the modern method of army surgery, field hospitals and the system of army ambulance corps. After seeing the speed with which the carriages of the French flying artillery maneuvered across the battlefields, Larrey adapted them as ambulance volantes ("Flying ambulances")[3] for rapid transport of the wounded and manned them with trained crews of drivers, corpsmen and litterbearers.
At the Battle of Metz (1793) Larrey successfully demonstrated the value of field ambulances. The quartermaster-general Jacques-Pierre Orillard de Villemanzy ordered prototypes to be built, after which ambulances would be supplied to all the Republic's armies. The politicians heard of this, and ordered a national contest to find the best design, thus delaying their delivery by over two years.[4] Larrey also increased the mobility and improved the organization of field hospitals, effectively creating a forerunner of the modern MASH units. He established a rule for the triage of war casualties, treating the wounded according to the seriousness of their injuries and urgency of need for medical care, regardless of their rank or nationality. Soldiers of enemy armies, as well as those of the French and their allies, were treated.
Larrey departed with the Egyptian campaign in 1798. Following the victory at the Battle of Abukir, he established a medical school for army physicians in Cairo.[5] Many of his patients at the time were affected by ophthalmy, a disease known in Europe since the Crusades, which Larrey studied and wrote about in his memoirs.[1] He improved the transportation of wounded soldiers through the use of dromedaries, with two chests attached to each side of their hump to carry the wounded, instead of horses of difficult movement in the desert.[1] He was wounded during the Siege of Acre. Larrey returned to France in October 1801.[5]
Larrey was made a Commander of the Légion d'honneur on 12 May 1807.[6] He joined in the Battle of Aspern-Essling, where he operated on Marshal Jean Lannes and amputated one of his legs in two minutes. He became the favorite of the Emperor, who commented, "If the army ever erects a monument to express its gratitude, it should do so in honor of Larrey", he was ennobled as a Baron on the field of Wagram in 1809. In 1811, Baron Larrey co-led the surgical team that performed a pre-anesthetic mastectomyonFrances Burney in Paris.[7] His detailed account of this operation gives insight into early 19th century doctor-patient relationships, and early surgical methods in the home of the patient. Larrey was involved in the French invasion of Russia.
Larrey amputating the arm and leg of colonel Rebsomen at the Battle of Hanau, in 1813
When Napoleon was sent to Elba, Larrey proposed to join him, but the former Emperor refused. At Waterloo in 1815 his courage under fire was noticed by the Duke of Wellington who ordered his soldiers not to fire in his direction so as to "give the brave man time to gather up the wounded" and saluted "the courage and devotion of an age that is no longer ours". Trying to escape to the French border, Larrey was taken prisoner by the Prussians who wanted to execute him on the spot. Larrey was recognized by one of the German surgeons, who pleaded for his life. Perhaps partly because he had saved the life of Blücher's son when he was wounded near Dresden and taken prisoner by the French, he was pardoned, invited to Blücher's dinner table as a guest and sent back to France with money and proper clothes.
He devoted the remainder of his life to writing, but after the death of Napoleon he started a new medical career in the army as chief-surgeon. In 1826 he visited England, received well by British surgeons. In 1829 he was appointed in the Institut de France. A year later, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[8] In 1842 he went to Algiers for a health inspection, together with his son, but contracted pneumonia on his way back, dying in Lyon on 25 July.[1] His body was taken to Paris and buried at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. His remains were transferred to Les Invalides and re-interred near Napoleon's tomb in December 1992.[9]
Larrey's son, Félix Hippolyte Larrey (1808–1895), also became a military doctor
Larrey's writings are still regarded as valuable sources of surgical and medical knowledge and have been translated into all modern languages.[citation needed] Between 1800 and 1840 at least 28 books or articles were published.[citation needed] His son Hippolyte (born 1808) was surgeon-in-ordinary to the emperor Napoleon III.[10]
The Dominique-Jean Larrey Award is the North Atlantic Alliance's highest medical honour. It is bestowed annually by NATO's senior medical body, the Committee of Chiefs of Military Medical Services in NATO (COMEDS), which is composed of the Surgeons GeneralofNATO and partner nations. It is awarded in recognition of a significant and lasting contribution to NATO multi-nationality and/or interoperability, or to improvements in the provision of health care in NATO missions in the areas of medical support or healthcare development.
His statue in bronze, as sculpted by David d'Angers in 1843, is standing in the courtyard outside the Val-de-Grâce military hospital, where Larrey was a professor in 1796
Bissi A (October 1989), "[Not Available]", Kos (in Italian) (49): 38–47, PMID11629939
Bodemer CW (July 1982), "Baron Dominique Jean Larrey, Napoleon's surgeon", Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons, 67 (7): 18–21, PMID10315971
Brewer LA (December 1986), "Baron Dominique Jean Larrey (1766–1842). Father of modern military surgery, innovater, humanist", The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 92 (6): 1096–8, doi:10.1016/S0022-5223(19)35826-X, PMID3537533
Csillag I (February 1984), "Ferenc Eckstein and military surgery during the Napoleonic wars (Dominique-Jean Larrey)" [Ferenc Eckstein and military surgery during the Napoleonic wars (Dominique-Jean Larrey)], Orvosi Hetilap (in Hungarian), 125 (8): 467–70, PMID6366693
DiGioia JM, Rocko JM, Swan KG (May 1983), "Baron Larrey. Modern military surgeon", The American Surgeon, 49 (5): 226–30, PMID6342487
Egeblad K (1979), "[Not Available]", Dansk Medicinhistorisk Årbog (in Danish): 1979, 132–59, PMID11628370
Egeblad K (1978), "[Not Available]", Dansk Medicinhistorisk Årbog (in Danish): 77–123, PMID11627862
Fackler ML (March 1989), "Misinterpretations concerning Larrey's methods of wound treatment", Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics, 168 (3): 280–2, PMID2645668
Faria MA (September 1990), "Dominique-Jean Larrey: Napoleon's surgeon from Egypt to Waterloo", Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, 79 (9): 693–5, PMID2212907
Feinsod, Moshe (2002), "The amputated leg—a tale of scientific curiosity—1792", Harefuah, vol. 141, no. 2 (published Feb 2002), pp. 210–2, 220, PMID11905097
Feinsod, M (1998), "The surgeon and the Emperor—a humanitarian on the battlefield", Harefuah, vol. 135, no. 9 (published Nov 1, 1998), pp. 340–3, 408, PMID10911440
Feinsod, M; Aharon-Peretz, J (1994), "Baron Larrey's description of traumatic aphasia", Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, vol. 3, no. 1 (published Jan 1994), pp. 45–52, doi:10.1080/09647049409525587, PMID11618806
Ferrarelli, L (1954), "The physicians of the Emperor", Minerva Chirurgica, vol. 9, no. 1 (published Jan 15, 1954), pp. 32–5, PMID13153977
Burris, DG; Welling, DR; Rich, NM (2004), "Dominique Jean Larrey and the principles of humanity in warfare", Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 198 (5): 831–5, doi:10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2003.12.025, PMID15110817
Hakulinen, E (1989), "The French revolution—a revolution even for health care", Läkartidningen, vol. 86, no. 28–29 (published Jul 12, 1989), pp. 2535–7, PMID2674570
HALL, D P (1959), "Our surgical heritage; Europe", Am. J. Surg., vol. 98, no. 1 (published Jul 1959), pp. 130–1, PMID13661525
Hau, T (1982), "The surgical practice of Dominique Jean Larrey", Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics, vol. 154, no. 1 (published Jan 1982), pp. 89–94, PMID7031942
Hillemand, P; Gilbrin, E (1978), "Not Available", Histoire des Sciences Médicales, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 255–7, PMID11627946
Jensen, J E (Jul 1981), "Napoleonic medicine", Maryland State Medical Journal, 30 (7): 66–8, ISSN0025-4363, PMID7024659
Lefebvre, P; Cornet, A; Sicard, A (1990), "Not Available", Histoire des Sciences Médicales, vol. 24, no. 3–4, pp. 259–63, PMID11638332
Lefebvre, P; Cornet, A; Sicard, A (1995), "The transfer of Baron Larrey's ashes from the Père Lachaise cemetery to the Invalides (December 14–15, 1992)", Histoire des Sciences Médicales, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 23–7, PMID11640449
Leonov, I T (1992), "D. J. Larrey and N. I. Pirogov (on the 225th anniversary of the birth of D. J. Larrey)", Vestn. Khir. Im. I. I. Grek., vol. 149, no. 7–8, pp. 117–9, PMID1341349
Marchioni, Jean (2004), "Larrey, a legendary surgeon, a current work", La Revue du Praticien, vol. 54, no. 3 (published Feb 15, 2004), pp. 342–5, PMID15134246
McIntyre, Neil (2002), "The Barons Larrey: Dominique Jean (1766–1842); Hippolyte (1808–1895)", Journal of Medical Biography, vol. 10, no. 3 (published Aug 2002), p. 185, doi:10.1177/096777200201000316, PMID12114954, S2CID5558961
Mirskiĭ, M B (2007), "An outstanding field surgeon (devoted to the 240th anniversary of D. Larrey's birth", Voenno-meditsinskiĭ Zhurnal, vol. 328, no. 1 (published Jan 2007), pp. 75–9, PMID17436718
Moore, A R (1978), "Preanesthetic mastectomy: a patient's experience", Surgery, vol. 83, no. 2 (published Feb 1978), pp. 200–5, PMID341385
Nau, Jean-Yves (2005), "I, Dominique Jean Larrey, baron and surgeon in chief of the Grand Army", Revue Médicale Suisse, vol. 1, no. 2 (published Jan 12, 2005), p. 186, PMID15773223
O'Sullivan, S T; O'Shaughnessy, M; O'Connor, T P (1995), "Baron Larrey and cold injury during the campaigns of Napoleon", Annals of Plastic Surgery, vol. 34, no. 4 (published Apr 1995), pp. 446–9, doi:10.1097/00000637-199504000-00020, PMID7793796, S2CID42758258
Pai-Dhungat, J V; Parikh, Falguni (2006), "Medical philaely (Medical theme on stamps). Dominique J. Larrey (1766–1842). Northern France Ambulance, 1918 stamp, Grenada-1970", The Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, vol. 54 (published Oct 2006), p. 811, PMID17214278
Quijano-Pitman, F (1997), "Surgical drainage with rubber tubes and Baron Larrey's mobile ambulances introduced by Dr. Ignacio Gama", Gaceta Médica de México, vol. 133, no. 3, p. 249, PMID9303873
Richardson, R G (1977), "Larrey – what manner of man?", Proc. R. Soc. Med., vol. 70, no. 7 (published Jul 1977), pp. 490–4, PMC1543132, PMID331340
Richardson, R G (1974), Larrey: Surgeon to Napoleon's Imperial Guard, John Murray
Rich, Norman M; Burris, David G; Welling, David R; Rignault, Daniel P (2006), "The Larrey legacy: two hundred years on", Current Surgery, 63 (2): 119–21, doi:10.1016/j.cursur.2005.12.008, PMID16520113
Rüttimann, B (1979), "Larrey's amputation technic", Gesnerus, vol. 36, no. 1–2, pp. 140–55, PMID381112
Skandalakis, Panagiotis N; Lainas, Panagiotis; Zoras, Odyseas; Skandalakis, John E; Mirilas, P (2006), ""To afford the wounded speedy assistance": Dominique Jean Larrey and Napoleon", World Journal of Surgery, 30 (8) (published Aug 2006): 1392–9, doi:10.1007/s00268-005-0436-8, PMID16850154, S2CID42597837
Soubiran, A (1966), "Larrey. The providence of soldiers (1766–1842)", La Presse Médicale, vol. 74, no. 34, pp. 1785–6, PMID5328565
Stembrowicz, W (1995), "Dominique Jean Larrey (1766–1842) the author of the work: On wounds of the pericardial sac and heart", Archiwum Historii I Filozofii Medycyny / Polskii Towarzystwo Historii Medycyny I Farmacji, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 311–28, PMID11624807
Wangensteen, S D; Wangensteen, O H (1971), "Successful pre-Listerian antiseptic management of compound fracture: Crowther (1802), Larrey (1824), and Bennion (ca. 1840)", Surgery, vol. 69, no. 6 (published Jun 1971), pp. 811–24, PMID4931133
Welling, David R; Burris, David G; Rich, Norman M (2006), "Delayed recognition – Larrey and Les Invalides", J. Am. Coll. Surg., vol. 202, no. 2 (published Feb 2006), pp. 373–6, doi:10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2005.08.024, PMID16427565
Wilson, T (1997), "The ambulance – Larrey's legacy", Scalpel & Tongs : American Journal of Medical Philately, vol. 41, pp. 82–3, PMID11619525
Wybieralski, A (1966), "Dominique Jean Larrey (1766–1842) On the 200 anniversary of his birth", Archiwum Historii Medycyny, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 313–20, PMID5335562
Zimmerman, L M (1968), "Humanity and compassion in medicine (Ambroise Paré, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey)", The Chicago Medical School Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 233–4, PMID4913343
