Hetzel Geraldine
Hist Sci Med. 2016 Jul;50(3):299-309.
The plot of the Ennemi de la Mort, published in 1908, one year after the death of the author Eugne Le Roy, is briefly presented: in 1820, the young practitioner Daniel Charbonniere, who is of Huguenot origin, comes home to the French "Double"-region in Dordogne. For a while, he is enticed by his cousin Minna de Lege, having saved her life. But, as Charbonniere thinks that their inequality of wealth is a barrier, he disregards her desire, which leads the very devout cousin to marry the nephew of her spiritual adviser. Daniel Charbonniere shows himself a disinterested physician, dedicated to the ill peasants suffering from malaria caused by the waters of the Double marshes. He aims to obtain the dry draining of these pools., With the help of a mayor and a priest, the physician also distributes inoculation against poxes and, otherwise, saves the life of a young lady, who later on becomes his companion. Confronted with charlatanry and the hostility of the landlords owning the pools, Daniel Charbonniere is beaten up by the peasants. Dispossessed by his very embittered cousin Minna, the physician goes to live with his wife and children in a decrepit sheep shelter. The persecutions go on and the peasants, instigated by the clergymen, murder Daniel's wet nurse and profane his ancestor's tombs. He ends his life in loneliness. The character of the physician is then analyzed more thoroughly ; under the aspect of his convictions and his humanistic engagement, in the name of which he doesn't accept any accommodation with a wealth-driven society, Charbonniere appears as a freethinker and a very indulgent practitioner, a scientist and a wholehearted mind shaped by the Enlightenment's spirit. In appendix to this analysis follows the rapid description of a litigation, which occurred in 1862 in the village of Les Riceys (Aube district), about a pool, of which Dr. Gabiot, the physician in charge of the epidemics, struggled to obtain the dry draining, in order to eradicate typhoid fever and dysentery. This practitioner stumbled upon the local public authorities, and, despite the support of the prefect, lost his fight.
《死亡的敌人》于1908年出版，即作者欧仁·勒鲁瓦去世后的第二年，其情节简述如下：1820年，出身胡格诺派的年轻医生丹尼尔·沙博尼埃回到法国多尔多涅省的“双地区”。有一阵子，他救了表妹米娜·德·勒热的命，因而受到她的吸引。但由于沙博尼埃认为他们财富上的不平等是个障碍，便不顾她的心意，这使得这位非常虔诚的表妹嫁给了她精神导师的侄子。丹尼尔·沙博尼埃展现出自己是一位无私的医生，致力于救治因双沼泽地的水而患上疟疾的穷苦农民。他的目标是实现这些水塘的排水疏干。在一位市长和一位牧师的帮助下，这位医生还分发天花疫苗接种，此外，他还救了一位年轻女士的命，这位女士后来成了他的伴侣。面对江湖医术以及拥有水塘的地主们的敌意，丹尼尔·沙博尼埃遭到农民们的殴打。被他心怀怨恨的表妹米娜剥夺了财产后，这位医生带着妻子和孩子住进了一个破旧的羊圈。迫害仍在继续，在神职人员的煽动下，农民们谋杀了丹尼尔的奶妈并亵渎了他祖先的坟墓。他在孤独中结束了自己的生命。接着对这位医生的性格进行了更深入的分析；从他的信念和人文情怀方面来看，沙博尼埃以不与一个由财富驱动的社会妥协的名义，表现为一个自由思想家和非常宽容的从业者，一位受启蒙运动精神塑造的科学家和全心全意的人。在这一分析之后的附录部分，简要描述了1862年在莱斯里西村（奥布省）发生的一场诉讼，涉及一个水塘，负责流行病防治的加比奥医生努力争取将其排水疏干，以根除伤寒和痢疾。这位从业者与当地政府发生了冲突，尽管得到了省长的支持，但他还是输掉了这场斗争。
