BÉGIN, LOUIS JACQUES:

By: Isidore Singer, Benuel H. Brumberg

French surgeon and author; born at Liège, Belgium, Nov. 2, 1793; died in Gorriquen, near Lacrouan, Bretagne, April 13, 1859. He studied medicine at the Military Hospital of Metz and in Paris. During the wars of Napoleon I. he served as assistant surgeon in the campaigns against Russia and Germany, 1812-14; andupon returning to his country continued with great success his studies at Strasburg and Val-de-Grâce, receiving the highest rewards. In 1821 Bégin was appointed instructor of physiology as applied to gymnastics at the military gymnasium of Metz; obtained his doctorate at Strasburg in 1823; and in 1832 was made lecturer to the School of Strasburg, on anatomy, physiology, and surgery. His educational and literary activity soon attracted attention. Upon arriving at Paris in 1835 he rapidly gained the highest degree in the civil and in the military medical service. Bégin was a member of the French Medical Academy since its foundation in 1823, and its president in 1847; surgeon-in-chief and first professor at the Hôpital de Perfectionnement of Valde-Grâce; member in 1842, and subsequently president from 1850 to 1857, of the Sanitary Council of the French armies; commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor in 1851; and member of many learned societies—French and foreign. An ardent adherent of Broussais, he defended his theories with remarkable talent. Bégin's friend, Dupuytren, confided to him and Sauson the publication of the new edition of Sabatier's "Médecine Opératoire"; and in his will charged him with the publication of his unfinished "Traité de la Taille." In 1857 Bégin retired from the public offices he held.

Besides contributions to sanitary and medical periodicals, Bégin published the following works: "Principes Généraux de Physiologie Pathologique d'Après la Doctrine de M. Broussais," Paris, 1821; "Considérations Pathologiques et Thérapeutiques sur les Maladies Chirurgicales Aigues," doctorate thesis, Strasburg, 1823; "Application de la Doctrine Physiologique à la Chirurgie," Paris, 1823; "Nouveaux Eléments de Chirurgie et de Médecine Opératoire," Paris, 1824, in 2 vols.—the 2d ed. in 3 vols. in 1835; "Traité Thérapeutique Rédigé Suivant les Principes de la Nouvelle Doctrine Médicale," 2 vols., Paris, 1825; "Mémoire sur la Déviation du Rachis," Paris, 1826; "Traité de Physiologie Pathologique," 2 vols., Paris, 1828; "Mémoire sur 1'Œsophagotomie," Paris, 1833; "Etudes sur le Service de Santé Militaire en France," Paris, 1849; "Mémoire sur la Gymnastique Médicale," Paris, 1823; "Supplement an Traité Historique et Dogmatique de la Taille, de J. Deschamps," 1826; "Mémoire sur l'Hémorragie à la Suite de l'Opération de la Taille par la Méthode Périnéale," etc., 1842; "Quels Sont les Moyens de Rendre, en Temps de Paix, les Loisirs du Soldat Français Plus Utile à Lui-Même, àl'Etat, et à l'Armée?" 1843; "Des Plaies d'Armes à Feu," 1849; "Principales Maladies des Yeux, de Scarpa," 1821.

S. B. B.