Theory and Practice at the Army's Clinical Schools in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy

Abstract

One of the problems the newly founded Army of the Kingdom of Italy in Napoleonic times had to face was to endow itself with a sanitary service. This implied the recruitment of physicians and surgeons to incorporate in the army corps and in the military hospitals. In order to provide the best qualification of those health officers, clinical schools were founded at the military hospital St. Ambrogio in Milano. This paper discusses their aims, rules, personages, programs and eventually tries to evaluate their accomplishments in the few years of their life.