The evolution of science at the School of Naval Medicine of Rochefort
Ever wondered what was it like to be a doctor on a boat of the navy, before the 21st century ?
Before the opening of the School of Naval Medicine, the barbers on the ships were used as "surgeons" ! Easy to say that today, sailors are lucky to live in the 21st century !
This first School of Naval Medicine was an example for other French naval dockyards but it is also the ancestor of today’s modern teaching hospitals...
The Marine Hospital by Toufaire
Enter the south-west wing of the first hospital with wards, unique in France, built by Toufaire and run for decades by a family of doctors: Les Cochon Dupuy.
Discover anatomy, surgery, medicine, botany ... just over 20 000 m2 of building to teach, study, treat, operate and dissect !
Become a student of the School of Naval Medicine
At the time, it was from the age of 15 that you could hope to enter the School of Naval Medicine and to become one of its students !
Push the door of the school and a guide takes you to a library, rich of 25,000 scientific works and in an amazing room with an impressive collection of human anatomy and surgical instruments of the 18th century...
Your guide will be happy to describe the different diseases of the time and the unusual remedies used on sailors aboard the ships !
