BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF BARON LARREY. 



Jean Dominique Larrey, according to his own 

 statement in his Campaigns and Memoirs, was born at 

 Baudean, a village of the upper Pyrenees, in the year 

 1767, and died at Lyons in 1842. He says little of his 

 boyhood, but begins his personal narrative by assert- 

 ing : "At the age of thirteen, I left the place of my 

 nativity with a view of studying medicine under the 

 direction of my uncle, Alexis Larrey, Director in the 

 Medical School at Toulouse. After passing the cur- 

 riculum of elementary and medical studies, I deter- 

 mined to visit the Universities in order to acquire that 

 knowledge which is requisite to a reputable standing 

 in the honorable profession I was ambitious to take 

 rank." 



"At the age of twenty-one, I repaired to Bivst, 

 to enter a competitive examination for auxiliary sur- 

 geon in the navy, and had the good fortune to obtain 

 an appointment. In this position I had opportunities 

 to dissect, and otherwise to gain scientific knowledge. 

 Soon I was consigned to duty on the frigate Vigilante, 

 which was destined for duty on the Grand Banks of 

 Newfoundland, to protect French interests in the cod- 

 fisheries. 



"At Belle Isle the ship took on board twenty 

 ship- wrecked mariners, who were starved and frozen. 

 The treatment of these wretched creatures gave me 

 an experience which served me a useful purpose in 

 Polish and Russian campaigns. In the treatment of 

 (194) 



