Neonatal jaundice and scientific fraud in 1804.

Abstract

In 1785 the University of Paris issued a prize challenge: "Describe neonatal jaundice and distinguish between those circumstances in which jaundice needs professional help and those in which one only needs to await the course of nature." The prize was awarded to Jean Baptiste Timothée Baumes for a paper, published as a pamphlet in 1788, in which he described 10 jaundiced neonates and discussed his theories on the causes and mechanisms. In a revised edition published in 1806 Baumes accused François Bidault of plagiarism in his 1804 thesis submitted for the MD degree at the University of Paris. Herein, Baumes' 1788 original is compared with Bidault's thesis as well as Baumes' 1806 revision. It is clear beyond doubt that the 10 cases discussed by Bidault were the same as those Baumes had published 16 y earlier. Parts of Bidault's descriptions and discussions were verbatim transcripts of Baumes' original. However, Bidault had economized with paper, ink and effort by significantly reducing the overall length of Baumes' original. In his second edition Baumes denounced Bidault in strong terms and suggested that the University of Paris take strong action to punish him for his dishonesty. Unfortunately, university records from that period are incomplete, and it is not clear what, if anything, was done about the matter. Baumes had a very distinguished career and achieved a great reputation as both a teacher and clinician.