A member of artistic, literary and scientific associations including the Société médico-psychologique (1881), A. Rist opened a private psychiatric clinic in Versailles in the years 1890–1891 called: La Châtaigneraie. This establishment will open its doors shortly before those of the old people's home (1892); they will complete the establishment opened in 1858: the civil hospital. In addition to his work as physician director of La Châtaigneraie, he was a medical expert at the court of Versailles. While practicing in Switzerland, he taught forensic medicine at the Law School of Lausanne. For example, A. Rist assessed Marie Christmann, a spiritualist masseuse, known as “the witch of Versailles”, who was denounced for the illegal practice of medicine and the mummified body of a woman was found in her house or Fernand-Théodore Charlatte, known as “the satyr of Saint-Cloud”, who simulated madness. Being an alienist was not without risk. He was threatened with death by an insane Arthur-Désiré Ferger who had twice escaped from the asylum; inspectors were assigned to protect him. A. Rist was a doctor fighting against alcohol abuse; the head office of the Versailles section of the French Anti-Alcohol Union was located at his home 11 rue des Deux Moulins. The National League against Alcoholism has founded “rooms of the soldier” in different cities of France (Cherbourg and Le Havre). A. Rist had one such room located at 29 rue de Béthune (Versailles). Author of “La philosophie naturelle intégrale les rudiments des sciences exacts” (1904), A. Rist shows us his pronounced taste for mathematics which inclined him more towards the physical sciences and their speculative aspect than towards biology, a discipline of observation and experimentation. In this second part, A. Rist appears to be a man of conviction and opinion. He was Dreyfusard and Republican. He was among the signatories of the “Appel à l’Union” (1899) like his friend Gabriel Monod (1844–1912), a member of the Institute. This founding document aimed to calm the political situation in the middle of the Dreyfus affair in order to save the parliamentary republican regime then in place. He does not hesitate to take up the pen to oppose Ferdinand Brunetière (1849–1906); director of the Revue des Deux Mondes, he was an antidreyfusard but not an antisemite. The latter had declared war on the scientific spirit and on Science which was not the point of view of A. Rist. In a national daily newpapers, he expressed his opposition to the reform of secondary education; this was a measure which had been advocated by the Minister of Public Instruction: Léon Bourgeois (1851–1925). At the end of the 19th century, A. Rist made a political commitment having being elected member of the municipal council of Versailles (1896–1900); he joined the Democratic Republican Alliance party (1901). During his career, A. Rist did not communicate or publish very much. In addition to his imposing work on “La philosophie naturelle intégrale”, we find among his works an article on phrenology published in the Dictionnaire de Dechambre, which he considered to be a science lacking a scientific basis; a case of idiopathic anorexia, which he said was a mental illness caused by a direct attack on the nerve center that regulates the need to eat; a case of forensic expertise on an anarchist sentenced to prison because he was not fit for internment. He was also supposed to publish a second volume of his natural philosophy, but it never saw the light of day. He died in November 1923, “La Châtaigneraie” closed its doors.
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Sep 25, 2024
Timofey Agarin + 1
Open Access