GASTON Pierre-Adolphe Des climats de la zone tropicale. Influence de ces climats sur les Européens et préceptes d’hygiène à l’usage de tous les Européens qui vont habiter cette zone.

First edition of this thesis, inscricribed by the author: ” A M. Pujo, conseiller à la cour de Montpellier souvenir de respectueuse affection“.

The person to whom it is dedicated was Joseph-Gabriel-Magnon Pujo (1808–1865), a magistrate whose career was closely linked to the colonies. Appointed in 1841 as assistant judge in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, then first deputy to the Attorney General at the Royal Court of Martinique, he became the King’s Prosecutor in Saint-Pierre in 1844, and subsequently a judge at the Court of Appeal of Algiers in 1848. By decree of 30 December 1854, he was appointed counsellor at the Imperial Court of Montpellier, a post he still held at the time of the dedication in 1862. The very subject of the thesis lends this letter particular interest: the tropical climates studied by Gaston are those of the West Indies and several regions of Africa, notably Senegal and Gabon, which directly echo Pujo’s own career, having practised for several years in colonial courts. The correspondence takes on an additional dimension when one realises that Pujo had joined the Imperial Court of Montpellier, the very city where Gaston defended his thesis on 10 February 1862.

The author spent twelve years in the colonies of Africa and the West Indies, during which time he made essential observations regarding the effects of tropical climates on European nationals. His research is based both on his personal notes taken during his travels and on discussions with local doctors. In his publication, he describes, in particular, the main tropical diseases, the difficulties of adaptation and the hygiene measures recommended at that time.

A fine copy, with a loss at the spine.