Frère Jacques Beaulieu

Frère Jacques Beaulieu

Frère Jacques Beaulieu (1651–1720), also known as Frère Jacques Baulot,^[1][2] was a travelling lithotomist with scant knowledge of anatomy and was also a Dominican friar. Beaulieu performed the frequently deadly procedure in France into the early 18th century.^[3]

The urologic community often claims Beaulieu is subject of the French nursery rhyme Frère Jacques, but this is not well-established. A possible connection between Frère Jacques and Beaulieu, as claimed by Irvine Loudon ^[4] and many others, was explored by J. P. Ganem and C. C. Carson ^[5] without finding any evidence for a connection.

Some have suggested that Frère Jacques was instead written to mock the Jacobin monks of France (Jacobins are what the Dominicans are called in Paris).^[6]

References

1. baulot
2. Un célèbre lithotomiste franc-comtois : Jacques Baulot dit Frère Jacques (1651-1720), E. Bourdin, Besançon, 1917
3. A biographical sketch of him is available on Pubmed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2238378/pdf/annrcse00028-0067.pdf
4. Western Medicine, Irvine Loudon, Oxford University Press, Dec 1, 2001, ISBN 0-19-924813-3
5. Frère Jacques Beaulieu: from rogue lithotomist to nursery rhyme character, Ganem JP, Carson CC, J Urol. 1999 Apr;161(4):1067-9.
6. eMedicine - Bladder Stones : Article by Joseph Basler