LIÉTARD, Gustave Alexandre. Domrémy-la-Pucelle (Vosges, Lorraine) 4.4. 1833 — Plombières-les-Bains (Vosges) 8.2.1904. French Physician and Indologist. Son of a viticulturist, he was educated at College of Toul and studied at Faculté de médecine in Strasbourg. Dr.med. 1858 Strasbourg. At Faculté de lettres he also learned the elements of Sanskrit under Bergmann and for a while was even able to attend Foucaux’s classes in Paris. From 1859 he worked as general and thermal physician in Plombières-les-Bains, where he used his leisure, in addition to medical pursuits, in study of local dialects and of Āyurveda. From 1869 he was médecin-inspecteur adjoint and from 1881 médecin-inspecteur des eaux. In 1869-92 and 1898-1900 Maire of Plombières and in 1871-77 Delegate in Conseil général des Vosges. Died after long illness. In c. 1859 married the sister of the physician Léopold Turck.
While his dissertation in 1858 had been founded on Hessler’s Latin Susruta, he advanced later in Sanskrit and had a wide correspondence with many Indologists (e.g. Jolly). Late in life he guided —> Palmyr Cordier in Āyurvedic studies. Beside Āyurveda he also studied the medical history of Arabia and Armenia.
Publications: Diss. Essai sur l’histoire de la médecine chez les Indous. 4+63 p. Strasbourg 1858 (facs. ed. in Roşu 1989, 5-62).
– Lettres historiques sur l’état de la médicine des anciens indiens. 76 p. P. 1863 (originally appeared in Gaz. hebd. de méd. 1862-63; Roşu 1989, 63-139).
– “Suçruta”, Dict. enyclop. des sc. méd. 3:12, 1883, 634-673 (Roşu 1989, 141-180) and many shorter articles in the same Encyclopedia.
– “Fragments d’histoire et de bibliographie, 1-4”, Gaz. hebd. de méd. 1883-84 (pt. 2-3 in Roşu 1989, 181-194); “Notice sur les connaissances anatomiques des Indous. L’anatomie et la physiologie dans l’ayurvéda de Suçruta”, Revue méd. de l’Est 16, 1884, 237-240 (Roşu 1989, 195-199).
– La littérature médicale de l’Inde. 19 p. P. 1896 (from Bull. de l’Acad. de Méd. 3:35, 1896; Roşu 1989, 201-219); Le médecin Charaka. Le serment des Hippocratistes et le serment des médecins hindous. 11 p. P. 1897 (from Bull. de l’Acad. de Méd. 3:37, 1897; Roşu 1989, 221-231).
– “Résumé de l’histoire de la médecine chez les orientaux”, Grande encyclopédie 23, P. [1897], 505-532 & 548-550 (part concerning India in Roşu 1989, 233-245).
– “La doctrine humorale des hindous et le Rig-Véda”, Janus 3, 1898, 17-21 (Roşu 1989, 247-251).
– “Le pèlerin bouddhiste chinois I-tsing et la médecine de l’Inde au VIIe siècle”, Bull. de la Soc. fr. d’hist. de la méd. 1, 1902, 472-487 (Roşu 1989, 255-270).
– A few further articles and reviews on Greek and Indian medicine and on anthropology
– Un demi-siècle de recherches âyurvédiques. Gustave Liétard et Palmyr Cordier. Travaux sur l’histoire de la médecine indienne. Documents réunis et présentés par Arion Roşu. cxxi+615 p. P.I.C.I., série in-8Ś, fascicule 8. Paris 1989.
– Works on thermal medicine, hygiene and other medical subjects.
Sources: N.M. Allan, Med. Hist. 25, 1981, 85-88; briefly Bréal, BSL 13, 1904, 13; P. Cordier, BEFEO 4, 1904, 538f.; Roşu 1989 (above) with life, photo and bibliography, and with further sources; French Wikipédia with photo.
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