Year: 1986
Type: article
Abstract: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"thus Charles Dickens began his mastexpiece set during that period of French history which includes the French Revolution-the end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 1800s.Revolution was in the air: the Industrial Revolution was cranked up, the American Revolution just over.In 1791, the year of The Magic Flute and Mozart's death, Beethoven was 2 1, ready to assume his full revolutionary powers.In France it was the time of the Reign of Terror, of political turmoil and retribution, of la Guillotine (invented in 1791 by a physician).According to Webb, by the time a certain young man in Nantes, France, was 15 years old, he "had seen fifty heads fall into the basket under the guillotine outside the windows of his home."That young man was Rent ThCophile Hyacinthe Laennec.Laennec was born in Quimper, in Brittany, in the far west of France, on February 17, 1781.His mother died when he was a few years old.His father was a mediocre lawyer who was afflicted with the writing of much poetry, a combination which led to an improvident situation for his children.When young Laennec was 7 years old, he and his brother were placed in the care of their paternal uncle in Nantes: their uncle was Guillaume Laennec, a physician who had studied under John Hunter in England.Guillaume largely raised the young boys and was to be a major influence in the life of his young nephew.Laennec's early schooling in Nantes was characteristic of the time: religion, grammar, geography, Latin prose and verse.At 11 years of age, Laennec translated some
Source: Clinical Cardiology
Author: J. Stone
Institution: Emory University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2741352656