Timeline: Dr. Dominique-Jean Larrey, 1766–1842

French military surgeon Dominique-Jean Larrey developed the ambulance volante – or flying ambulance – an innovative and effective casualty transport system, which served as a model for other armies, and is considered the first real ambulance.

Larrey started medical training under his uncle when he was 14. He gained experience in treating battlefield-like wounds in Paris during the French Revolution, and was appointed surgeon-major of the Army of the Rhine in 1792, at age 26.

In Memoirs of Military Surgery, and Campaigns of the French Armies (shortened title), he noted that during the 1792 Rhine campaign, "The wounded were left on the field, until after the engagement, and were then collected at a convenient spot, to which the ambulances speeded as soon as possible; but the number of wagons interposed between them and the Army, and many other difficulties so retarded their progress that they never arrived in less than 24 or 36 hours, so that most of the wounded died for want of assistance … this suggested to me the idea of constructing an ambulance in such a manner that it might afford a ready conveyance for the wounded during battle."

Larrey's observations were the beginning of the ambulance volante. Competitions were held to find a design for the ambulances and, during the Italian Campaign of 1797, Larrey's system of horse-drawn wagons to carry the wounded from the battlefield to field hospitals was used. The wagons were of two sizes (with the small carrying two patients, and the large, four), and were ventilated and had storage space for medicines and other needed items.

In the Memoirs, Larrey writes that each of the army's ambulance divisions included a surgeon-major, two surgeon's mates, 12 junior mates (including two who were apothecaries – the forerunners of pharmacists), a bearer of surgical instruments, a drummer boy (to carry bandages), 25 foot soldiers as overseers, and more, totaling 113 people.

Larrey is also credited with introducing the first descriptions of triage and being the first surgeon to treat battlefield casualties where they were injured. He is also known for instituting the procedure of separating wounded patients from those with contagious diseases. Larrey was even an early observer of the efficacy of maggots, noting that soldiers whose wounds were infested by maggots did better (and had a much lower mortality rate) than soldiers whose wounds weren't infested.

Discuss This Article

Have something you'd like to say? Tell us what you think! Read and post comments for this article.

Find a Job

Choose your career:

MedHunters is the world's biggest healthcare job board. Our job directory has 18,226 jobs with 2,533 hospitals and other direct employers.

We want you to find your next job on MedHunters. Need Help? Call us at 1-888-884-8242, email us at info@medhunters.com or sign up now.