Forget what you think you know about old medical texts. Étude sur les maladies éteintes et les maladies nouvelles (A Study on Extinct and New Diseases) isn't a dry catalog of symptoms. Published in 1849 by French physician Charles Anglada, it's a bold piece of historical detective work. Anglada looks back at plagues and fevers that terrified past generations but had, by his time, completely disappeared from Europe. Then he turns his gaze to his own era, pointing out fresh health threats that were unknown a century prior.

The Story

There isn't a plot in the novel sense, but there is a powerful central idea driving the book. Anglada methodically compares two lists. On one side are 'extinct' diseases, like the mysterious 'English sweating sickness' that killed rapidly in the 1400s and 1500s. On the other are 'new' diseases of the industrializing 19th century. His goal is to find the connection. He argues that diseases aren't static facts of nature; they have a life cycle. They emerge, change, and can vanish based on the conditions humans create. He explores how shifts in sanitation, population density, travel, and even economic changes might act as the 'on' and 'off' switches for epidemics. The 'story' is his quest to prove that our history and our health are inseparable.

Why You Should Read It

What grabbed me was the sheer modernity of the question. Reading Anglada, you feel the thrill of a foundational idea clicking into place. Long before we had germ theory, he was observing that our battle with illness is a dialogue, not a monologue. We change the world, and the world of microbes changes in response. It's humbling and insightful. While some of his specific medical explanations are outdated, his core framework—that social and environmental change drives disease evolution—feels incredibly prescient. It makes you look at today's headlines about emerging viruses or antibiotic resistance in a whole new, much deeper, historical light.

Final Verdict

This is a niche read, but a rewarding one. It's perfect for history buffs who love 'big idea' books, or anyone in public health or medicine interested in the historical roots of their field. It's also great for readers who enjoy seeing how people in the past grappled with fundamental questions we still face. You need a tolerance for 19th-century academic prose (a good translation helps), but the intellectual payoff is worth it. Think of it less as a medical textbook and more as the origin story of a crucial way of seeing the world.