PORTIER (Paul) - Lot 237

Lot 237
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PORTIER (Paul) - Lot 237
PORTIER (Paul) Bar-sur-Seine, 1866 - Paris, 1962. French marine biologist and zoologist, collaborator with Charles Richet in the discovery of anaphylaxis. Autograph letter-card signed "P. Portier", addressed to "Monsieur Maurice Emmanuel" [Maurice Emmanuel]. Bar-sur-Aube, February 19, 1915. 1 page in-12, with military hospital stamp and postmark. A moving card written at the height of the First World War, in which Portier describes his work at the Bar-sur-Aube military hospital. The scholar gravely evokes the human consequences of the conflict, recounting the fate of several wounded and sick: the recent death of a young enlisted man from typhoid, serious bullet wounds and multiple amputations. The document takes on a particularly striking dimension through the precision of the medical observations and the sobriety of tone, contrasting with the violence of the situations described. Portier also mentions his own work, devoted to the bacteriological diagnosis of typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, and indicates that he had set up a laboratory on site using instruments from the Sorbonne. A rare direct account of a scientist's involvement in the wartime medical effort, at the crossroads of scientific and military history.
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