MAUR P Essai sur les causes de l’impuissance et de la stérilité.

Cohen, p. 37; not in Wellcome.

First edition of this thesis, with the author’s dedication «à monsieur Rosapelly» on the cover.

This copy may have been intended for Charles-Gabriel-Joseph Rosapelly (1747–1813), a French military surgeon who enjoyed a distinguished career in the armies of the Revolution and subsequently the Empire. As chief surgeon to several armies, notably the Army of Batavia, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1804. Having retired from service in 1805, he subsequently settled in Appoigny, in the Yonne department, where he became mayor.

This thesis, defended at the Paris School of Medicine in 1805, constitutes an interesting piece of research into the causes of infertility.

Maur’s work offers an insight into how the subject was understood and addressed in the early 19^th century. His work is divided into two main sections, dealing successively with the causes of infertility in men and then in women. The study is set against a historical backdrop characterised by a long-standing gendered view of infertility, which was often regarded as the woman’s responsibility, particularly due to the central role attributed to women in procreation. This desire to address the causes of infertility in both sexes reveals a shift: infertility may be attributable to men, and is now the subject of medical consideration.

P. Maur’s research is of genuine documentary interest, as it provides insight into the medical and social conceptions of infertility at that time. This conception is reflected in the terminology chosen by the author. Maur draws a distinction between male and female infertility, associating male infertility with the term ‘impotence’ and female infertility with ‘sterility’ – a distinction particularly emphasised by J. Cohen in these words: ‘if the woman is sterile, the man, for his part, can only be impotent’.

Slight water stain; spine and half-title missing.