It is a pity that so little is known about the medical men and profession at the Cape during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and on that account any information gathered from the official records of the country should prove of interest. We have no record to show that any of the Cape surgeons or physicians studied under any of the noted professors of Holland or France, but it does seem natural to suppose that they studied and read the publications of some of the celebrated medical authorities of their day. We know that those who practised here were examined in Holland, and others who had served their term of apprenticeship at the Cape were examined by two of the Chief Government Surgeons and certified as being competent to practice.

After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 thousands of Frenchmen, rather than abjure their faith, and to escape religious persecutions, sought an asylum in different parts of Europe. Many found refuge in Holland, and when the Dutch East India Company sent out emigrants to the Cape they offered certain facilities to a number of French refugees to come out in order to cultivate the land and increase the productive power of the country. Between the years 1688-1690 several families availed themselves of this. The fugitives of a persecution are not apt to be particular about their destination, and it is quite sufficient for them to have escaped. In 1690, we learn, that about one hundred and fifty persons, men, women and children, were settled in various parts of the Cape settlement.

These people have some interest for the medical profession, for while the greater number, upon their arrival at the Cape, took up farming or carried on some trade, we find a few who practiced as surgeons.

The following few facts about some of these gentlemen may be of interest.

Jean Durand, who was born at la Motte, in Dauphine, about the year 1669, settled at Drakenstein, where he carried on farming operations, and at the same time practiced as a surgeon. There are several surgical certificates in existence written by him in connection with post mortem examinations on the bodies of persons who had met their death in a violent manner. He also found time to exercise the duties of a member of the Court of Landdrost and Heemraden at Stellenbosch. This court tried civil cases up to a certain amount, and decided disputes as to the limits of farms, common wagon roads, etc., and was responsible for such duties as are performed by Divisional Councils today. Mr. Durand died in 1727. His descendants are still to be found in the Republic of South Africa, and it would be interesting to know whether he was a member of a cadet branch of the noble family of Durand, of Dauphine.

Gideon le Grand lived in 1698 at Stellenbosch and practised as a surgeon at Drakenstein. He died in 171o, leaving no heirs at the Cape, but only a brother Abraham le Grand, who lived at Haarlem. Le Grand also filled the position of Burgher Councillor of Drakenstein.

What appears to have been a sort of day book of his is in the Archives, or rather a fragmentary portion of it. Interspersed here and there are what appear to be clinical notes. The writing is not everywhere easy to make out, and is, of course, in an archaic form of French, but a few interesting items may be noted.

One notices that, when medicine is entered, there is constantly the note “envoyê”, with very often “par son ordre” added, and sometimes the name of the slave or other messenger. It seems clear that good old Le Grand was taking no chances of his accounts being disputed, and regularly put on record, not only the prescription, but the name of the messenger and the fact of having received a distinct order.

Journeys or even visits seem to have been rare, most of the entries clearly referring to medicine sent out on a message.

In one place we have recorded, in connection with one Jacob de Villiers, “reduit la luxation du poignet droit. Le radius etoit luxe. Mis seux famine et argile p.p.” It looks as if the good old surgeon was in the habit of putting up dislocations with a prototype of the modern gum and chalk beloved of Guy’s men. The charge for this was one something or other, apparently one rix-dollar.

Cinnamon, terebinth, crocus, ginger, piper and “oli succ”, whatever the latter may be, figure largely in Le Grand’s pharmacopoeia.

There is one very pathetic note in this old day-book, showing that, as today, the easy-going doctor had, not unfrequently, not only to supply his services free, but to pay out-of-pocket expenses as well. Here it is, “J’ai paye so nourriture a mes frais et depans.” There is an entry, “pour remede et nourriture”, but no sum is affixed. Probably the good old surgeon knew that it might as well be done pro Deo.

In one place there is quite an extensive clinical note, which, as far as we can decipher it, reads thus, “donne tous les jours fleur de souphre preparé”, and a bit later on, “bon efet pour rume et courte haleine mal de polmon et enfleure de pieds.”

A family well-known throughout South Africa is that of Du Plessis, who can claim as their ancestor Jean Prieur du Plessis, a surgeon of Poitiers, where he was born in 1638. He arrived at the Cape in 1688 with his wife, Madeleine Menanto. On the voyage a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. du Plessis, who was baptised Charles on board the ship Oosterlandt in Table Bay. We find this Charles du Plessis many years after bringing an action in the court of Landdrost and Heemraden at Stellenbosch for the recovery of fees for medical services rendered by him. Upon the death of his first wife, Jean Prieur du Plessis, married Maria Buisset, who appears to have had some knowledge of surgery, and therefore deserves special mention.

Maria Buisset was born at Sedan, on the French frontier, in 1678, and after the death of her husband, Surgeon du Plessis, married in 1711 Mr. Dirk Snit, also a surgeon. A copy of a medical bill for services rendered by Mr. Snit in 1714 appeared in the South African Medical Record in October, 1912. Having no doubt gained some knowledge of surgery from her first husband, Maria Buisset was admitted to practise as a duly qualified midwife. Midwives during the Dutch occupation of the Cape (1652-1795) were either appointed by the Directorate of the Dutch East India Company and sent out from Holland, or when necessary after due examination by two of the Cape Chief Government Surgeons, and found to be well acquainted with and experienced in midwifery. But now the most remarkable fact about Mrs. Snit comes before us. In 1721, while her husband still practised as a surgeon, she produced, before the Court of Justice (now the Supreme Court) a surgical certificate signed by her, which set forth the result of her inspection of a slave girl who had been stabbed with a knife. An extract from this certificate, which is translated from the Dutch, is given here:

“I, the undersigned, acknowledge and declare that at the request of………….. and found there a certain slave girl named Jannetje, belonging to the aforesaid Over-holster, badly wounded, that is to say, with a stab about three fingers broad above the navel, below the stomach internally the depth of five fingers, and externally the length of three fingers, that it hung a good quarter out of the wound, and also that the inside flesh of the panniculum had been penetrated, all of which I am prepared to confirm by solemn oath if need be.

“At Stellenbosch this 3 March, 1721.

“M. Buisset married to Snit, Surgeon.”

The criminal who had committed the deed on the slave girl was found guilty and sentenced by the court to be flogged and put in chains for two years. The signature to this document is in a clear, distinct and decisive handwriting, and at first appearance seems masculine. Could we ask the question whether in cases of extreme necessity qualified midwives were permitted to act as surgeons ? It would appear so from the above facts, for this particular certificate was produced before the highest judicial tribunal as evidence and accepted as such. Maria Buisset died at Cape Town in 1751.

Although not numbering amongst the early batches of French fugitives who came to the Cape, we find the name of another French surgeon who lived at the Cape in the first quarter of the eighteenth century; we can surmise that he had left France on account of his being a Protestant. Renault Berthault de St. Jean was born in 1692 at Sanoere in the province of Berry, France, and at the age of twenty became a surgeon in the services of the Dutch East India Company. Seven years later he landed at the Cape, having left his wife, Anne Fourdinier, and son, behind in Holland. They joined him later on. Mr. de St. Jean became chief surgeon of the government hospital in Cape Town, which stood on the block now situated between the corners of Wale and Church Streets, and extended right back to St. George’s Street. He died on the 11th March, 1763, having married a second time Martha Soullier, daughter of Durand Soullier. The family of De St. Jean is still represented in South Africa through the female line in the family of Van der Riet.

Paul le Febure, in escaping religious persecution, gave up his social position and left Chateau Thierry about 1685. He joined the Dutch East India Company, and eventually found himself settled with the Cape Huguenots at French Hoek, where he set up as a surgeon. We find that he had been practising as a surgeon solar back as 1676. At the same time that he left Chateau Thierry the whole family of Taillefert also quitted the place. Le Febure was related to this family, having married Maria, the daughter of Jean Taillefert, an apothecary. Amongst the members of this last family was Isaac Taillefert, who, with his wife Susanne Briet, and six children, arrived at the Cape in 1688. Their daughter Elizabeth Taillefert became the wife of the French Refugee Pierre de Villiers, of La Rochelle, the ancestor of Lord de Villiers, of Wynberg.
[facebook]
[twitter name=”name”]