In the hospital it was his practice to submit to the students for inspection and consideration only the most serious and the most typical cases. From the bedside he went, in company with the entire class, to the amphitheatre, and there entered upon a more complete description and discussion of what they had witnessed in the ward. If the patient died, then he took them with him to the dead-house and showed them whatever the autopsy revealed. Before doing so, however, he read to them a brief history of the case, in order to refresh their memory. Then, after the autopsy had been completed, he reviewed and compared the two sets of facts. As the author of this particular eulogy remarks, “One can imagine with what intense interest the students followed this last act in the course of instruction which Corvisart gave them.”
When Bonaparte was made Emperor of France one of his early acts was to appoint Corvisart, who had been instrumental in effecting his recovery from a serious pulmonary attack, his First Physician. This position was not, as might easily be imagined, that of a mere personal adviser; it was a much more important office, or at least it became so in the hands of Dr. Corvisart. He felt very strongly that he must use this great increase in his personal influence, not for himself nor for his immediate circle of friends, but for the benefit of the nation and for the advancement of the science of medicine. As an illustration of the spirit in which Corvisart interpreted the attitude which he should maintain in the face of his new responsibilities I will mention the following incident:—On one occasion, when the Emperor startled him with the announcement that he held in his hands the official appointment of his brother to a position connected with the Government, Corvisart remarked: “Allow me, your Majesty, to decline, for my brother, this position; he does not possess the necessary capacity. I know that he is poor, but that is a matter which concerns only myself.” After Corvisart left the room Napoleon, turning to one of his ministers who happened to be present, asked him: “Do you know of many men like this man?” On another occasion, when Corvisart happened to be the subject of conversation, the Emperor remarked: “He is an honest and skilful man, but a little brusque.”
Among his numerous acts of generosity toward his friends and benefactors there were some which showed that he did not forget his teachers nor even the hospitals. He established at l’École de Médecine a prize fund which had for its purpose to aid those who found it impossible, through lack of funds, to continue their scientific experiments.
Finally, it should not be forgotten that it was Corvisart who suggested to Bonaparte,[[22]] the First Consul, the propriety of erecting at Hôtel-Dieu the monument in honor of Desault and Bichat. (See page [167].) By reason of the various responsibilities which very soon began to burden Corvisart he was obliged to give up, one after the other, his clinical teaching and finally his practice; it had become impossible for him to do justice to so many things. Thus, he resigned his Chair of Clinical Medicine in 1807, and in 1814, after the fall of Napoleon, he retired to his countryseat, where he hoped to regain in some measure the health which had begun to break down under the numerous burdens which he had been carrying. His death occurred on September 18, 1821.
From among the comments that were published by his contemporaries soon after Corvisart’s death I select the following as well adapted to complete the portrait of this remarkable man:—
Among his professional brethren Corvisart was admitted to have gained a high degree of skill in the power to diagnose diseases of the chest by means of percussion, and especially to have advanced our knowledge of affections of the heart and its annexes. No less important are the services which he rendered to physicians through his valuable and inspiriting clinical teaching. It was particularly in this form of teaching that he showed in what a rare degree he possessed the power of interesting his auditors in the case which happened to be at that moment under consideration. Corvisart was equally successful as a teacher of pathological anatomy, and nobody, since the time of Bichat, did more than he to develop in France the love of researches in pathological anatomy. However, despite their fascination with the study of the pathological lesions presented by the different organs of the body after death, these pupils rarely seemed anxious to harmonize them with the symptoms manifested by the patient during his lifetime. They persisted in forgetting the remarks made by their teacher on this very point, to wit:—
The most desirable thing, the thing which we should particularly strive to find out because it is that which is most important in practical medicine, is not what are the peculiarities discernible in the cadaver, but to recognize the existence of these pathological lesions from certain signs and symptoms manifested during life.
The only works which Corvisart has handed down to posterity are the following:—
“Essai sur les maladies et les lésions organiques du coeur et des gros vaisseaux,” Paris, 1806. (3d edition, 1818.)
“Nouvelle méthode pour reconnaître les maladies internes de la poitrine, par la percussion de cette cavité,” par Auenbrugger; ouvrage traduit du latin et commenté par J. N. Corvisart, Paris, 1808.