[Apollinaire Bouchardat, pharmacist, nutritionist]

Abstract

Apollinaire Bouchardat (1806-1886) began his hospital internship after a brilliant career as a student at the Ecole de pharmacie de Paris and the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, He was named chief-pharmacist at the Hôtel-Dieu and focused his studies on diabetes and nutritional diseases. His work was based on a thorough knowledge of the fundamental sciences. He defined urinary sugar concentration as an indication of the patient's clinical condition. In order to obtain an accurate measurement of this parameter, Bouchardat advocated the polarimeter as the reference method. After 20 years at the Hôtel-Dieu (1835-1855), he gave up his hospital life to become professor of hygiene at the Faculté de médecine. He undertook numerous studies concerning metabolic diseases, food chemistry, hygiene, environment. He founded a new medical science: diabetology, the importance of which is still growing and remains, 150 years later, a major clinical field at the Hôtel-Dieu.