interest in medicine, specifically women’s health. She was twenty-three when she married her husband, and over the next thirteen years, she bore five children. She was always pregnant or recovering from a pregnancy, and she died at age thirty-six. Her son was only ten, but he had vivid memories of her constant confinements.
A brilliant student, Pozzi could have entered any profession. He chose to follow in the footsteps of an older cousin, a successful physician in Paris who had treated members of the Bonaparte family. Pozzi may have imagined a similar physician-to-the-stars career trajectory for himself.
He entered medical school and was assigned to Dr. Gallard, one of the few physicians in Paris who specialized in the study and treatment of women’s health. Through Gallard, Pozzi was introduced to the intriguing new medical field of gynecology. He was enthusiastic about his work and applied himself to his studies with dedication. But his classes were interrupted by the start of the Franco-Prussian War.
Joining with other young men in Paris, Pozzi enlisted in the army in July 1870. For the first months of service, he was stationed in Paris, where he spent most of his time participating in parades and ambulance marches. When he arrived at the front, he demonstrated remarkable courage and dedication. He suffered a fractured leg in the line of duty, and was discharged and sent home to his family to recover. After the war and the bloody Paris Commune, he resumed his studies, and won a coveted position under the esteemed Dr. Paul Broca. Pozzi was awarded a gold medal for his outstanding internship and received his medical degree in 1873.
During the Third Republic, French doctors were encouraged for the first time to study the female body and address health problems that related specifically to women. Curiously, it was the Franco-Prussian War that promoted interest in women’s health and reproduction. The French believed that their defeat had been caused, in part, by the rampant physical and moral degeneration of their people. They had spent decades shamelessly indulging their baser instincts under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte and his descendants. Contaminated bloodlines and bad behavior were to blame for their degeneracy. Curing moral decay was a complicated proposition for which there was no simple solution. But, the French believed, the physical side of the problem could be addressed in a very practical way. Doctors, nurses, housewives, and mothers could promote better personal hygiene to combat alcoholism, venereal disease, and tuberculosis, among the conditions that had undermined the populace.
The French were also extremely concerned about their country’s plummeting birth rate. After the war, and through the early 1890s, years passed in which more people died in France than were born. Medical practitioners were encouraged to find ways to improve prenatal care, internal examinations, and deliveries, in an effort to make childbirth safer for mothers and babies. Even the reinstitution of the divorce law in 1884 was seen as a way of promoting births: childless marriages could be dissolved, to make way for unions that could produce offspring.
Doctors were interested in the challenging field of gynecology. Some of them wrote handbooks and endorsed beauty products, just as some physicians promote their own product lines today. The handbooks were not always specific, informative, or even accurate, yet they indicated a growing comprehension of women’s physical concerns. Pozzi, who was also studying to be a surgeon, pursued his interests in this area.
Pozzi was a conscientious medical student who demonstrated a great aptitude for his work. But his interests extended beyond the world of science. He was passionate about literature, art, and the theater, and was drawn to artists of all kinds. In 1869, Pozzi fell under the spell of Sarah Bernhardt. After seeing her in a production of Le Passant at the Odéon, he
A brilliant student, Pozzi could have entered any profession. He chose to follow in the footsteps of an older cousin, a successful physician in Paris who had treated members of the Bonaparte family. Pozzi may have imagined a similar physician-to-the-stars career trajectory for himself.
He entered medical school and was assigned to Dr. Gallard, one of the few physicians in Paris who specialized in the study and treatment of women’s health. Through Gallard, Pozzi was introduced to the intriguing new medical field of gynecology. He was enthusiastic about his work and applied himself to his studies with dedication. But his classes were interrupted by the start of the Franco-Prussian War.
Joining with other young men in Paris, Pozzi enlisted in the army in July 1870. For the first months of service, he was stationed in Paris, where he spent most of his time participating in parades and ambulance marches. When he arrived at the front, he demonstrated remarkable courage and dedication. He suffered a fractured leg in the line of duty, and was discharged and sent home to his family to recover. After the war and the bloody Paris Commune, he resumed his studies, and won a coveted position under the esteemed Dr. Paul Broca. Pozzi was awarded a gold medal for his outstanding internship and received his medical degree in 1873.
During the Third Republic, French doctors were encouraged for the first time to study the female body and address health problems that related specifically to women. Curiously, it was the Franco-Prussian War that promoted interest in women’s health and reproduction. The French believed that their defeat had been caused, in part, by the rampant physical and moral degeneration of their people. They had spent decades shamelessly indulging their baser instincts under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte and his descendants. Contaminated bloodlines and bad behavior were to blame for their degeneracy. Curing moral decay was a complicated proposition for which there was no simple solution. But, the French believed, the physical side of the problem could be addressed in a very practical way. Doctors, nurses, housewives, and mothers could promote better personal hygiene to combat alcoholism, venereal disease, and tuberculosis, among the conditions that had undermined the populace.
The French were also extremely concerned about their country’s plummeting birth rate. After the war, and through the early 1890s, years passed in which more people died in France than were born. Medical practitioners were encouraged to find ways to improve prenatal care, internal examinations, and deliveries, in an effort to make childbirth safer for mothers and babies. Even the reinstitution of the divorce law in 1884 was seen as a way of promoting births: childless marriages could be dissolved, to make way for unions that could produce offspring.
Doctors were interested in the challenging field of gynecology. Some of them wrote handbooks and endorsed beauty products, just as some physicians promote their own product lines today. The handbooks were not always specific, informative, or even accurate, yet they indicated a growing comprehension of women’s physical concerns. Pozzi, who was also studying to be a surgeon, pursued his interests in this area.
Pozzi was a conscientious medical student who demonstrated a great aptitude for his work. But his interests extended beyond the world of science. He was passionate about literature, art, and the theater, and was drawn to artists of all kinds. In 1869, Pozzi fell under the spell of Sarah Bernhardt. After seeing her in a production of Le Passant at the Odéon, he
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