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The Skin of a Revolutionary

The Skin of a Revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat (Baudry, Switzerland, born 1743) was murdered July 13, 1793, in Paris, France, while taking a therapeutic bath to treat his mysterious skin disease.1-3 Charlotte Corday stabbed him to death because she held him responsible for the September Massacres and feared the outbreak of civil war. Marat obtained the degree of Doctor in Medicine at the University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, with an essay on gleets (gonorrhea). He was a brilliant scientist and finally became a revolutionary politician during the French Revolution. He accused Antoine Lavoisier, the “father of modern chemistry,” of selling watered-down tobacco, an accusation that caused Lavoisier to be guillotined. Marat suffered from an incapacitating, itching, and burning chronic skin disease. His skin was blistered, with open sores. His disease began in the anogenital area, later spreading over his whole body. As we can see in the Jacques-Louis David painting (Figure), the dermatosis also involved the scalp, which Marat treated with a towel soaked in vinegar. He obtained relief from his skin condition only by taking prolonged baths in a specially designed shoe-shaped bathtub, where he would attend his duties and receive visitors. Figure View LargeDownload La Mort de Marat (ou Marat assassiné), 1793. Oil on canvas, 165 × 128 cm. Copyright the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. Marat attributed his disease to his stay in the sewers of Paris, where he was hiding from his persecutors. His skin problem began in 1790 and “accompanied” him for the rest of his life. An accurate diagnosis of his skin disease has not yet been made, but the following infectious origins have been considered: syphilis, scrofula, scabies, leprosy, and diabetic candidiasis. However, the whole list of differential diagnoses could have been easily ruled out by Marat, as he himself was a notable physician. Some authors have also proposed that Marat suffered from atopic eczema, seborrheic dermatitis, dermatitis herpetiformis, or bullous pemphigoid. Although we know that it is a vain effort, we cannot avoid offering our own hypothesis. If we take into account all the skin and systemic symptoms, such as paranoia, headaches, insatiable thirst, the origin in the perineum, and the chronic but not fatal course of Marat's skin disease, a proliferative histiocytic disorder appears to be a reasonable diagnositic candidate to fit all these symptoms. Nevertheless, what is clear is that Marat's skin condition disturbed his personality, made him more aggressive, and put him in an extremely vulnerable setting, in which he was murdered. Contact Ms Coto-Segura at Government of the Principality of Asturias, Asturias, Spain (olaya5@yahoo.es). References 1. Murphy LC The itches of Jean-Paul Marat. J Am Acad Dermatol 1989;21 (3, pt 1) 565- 567PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 2. Jelinek JE Jean-Paul Marat: the differential diagnosis of his skin disease. Am J Dermatopathol 1979;1 (3) 251- 252PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 3. Dotz W Jean Paul Marat: his life, cutaneous disease, death, and depiction by Jacques Louis David. Am J Dermatopathol 1979;1 (3) 247- 250PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archives of Dermatology American Medical Association

The Skin of a Revolutionary

Abstract

Jean-Paul Marat (Baudry, Switzerland, born 1743) was murdered July 13, 1793, in Paris, France, while taking a therapeutic bath to treat his mysterious skin disease.1-3 Charlotte Corday stabbed him to death because she held him responsible for the September Massacres and feared the outbreak of civil war. Marat obtained the degree of Doctor in Medicine at the University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, with an essay on gleets (gonorrhea). He was a brilliant scientist and finally became a...
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References (3)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0003-987X
eISSN
1538-3652
DOI
10.1001/archdermatol.2011.92
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Jean-Paul Marat (Baudry, Switzerland, born 1743) was murdered July 13, 1793, in Paris, France, while taking a therapeutic bath to treat his mysterious skin disease.1-3 Charlotte Corday stabbed him to death because she held him responsible for the September Massacres and feared the outbreak of civil war. Marat obtained the degree of Doctor in Medicine at the University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, with an essay on gleets (gonorrhea). He was a brilliant scientist and finally became a revolutionary politician during the French Revolution. He accused Antoine Lavoisier, the “father of modern chemistry,” of selling watered-down tobacco, an accusation that caused Lavoisier to be guillotined. Marat suffered from an incapacitating, itching, and burning chronic skin disease. His skin was blistered, with open sores. His disease began in the anogenital area, later spreading over his whole body. As we can see in the Jacques-Louis David painting (Figure), the dermatosis also involved the scalp, which Marat treated with a towel soaked in vinegar. He obtained relief from his skin condition only by taking prolonged baths in a specially designed shoe-shaped bathtub, where he would attend his duties and receive visitors. Figure View LargeDownload La Mort de Marat (ou Marat assassiné), 1793. Oil on canvas, 165 × 128 cm. Copyright the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. Marat attributed his disease to his stay in the sewers of Paris, where he was hiding from his persecutors. His skin problem began in 1790 and “accompanied” him for the rest of his life. An accurate diagnosis of his skin disease has not yet been made, but the following infectious origins have been considered: syphilis, scrofula, scabies, leprosy, and diabetic candidiasis. However, the whole list of differential diagnoses could have been easily ruled out by Marat, as he himself was a notable physician. Some authors have also proposed that Marat suffered from atopic eczema, seborrheic dermatitis, dermatitis herpetiformis, or bullous pemphigoid. Although we know that it is a vain effort, we cannot avoid offering our own hypothesis. If we take into account all the skin and systemic symptoms, such as paranoia, headaches, insatiable thirst, the origin in the perineum, and the chronic but not fatal course of Marat's skin disease, a proliferative histiocytic disorder appears to be a reasonable diagnositic candidate to fit all these symptoms. Nevertheless, what is clear is that Marat's skin condition disturbed his personality, made him more aggressive, and put him in an extremely vulnerable setting, in which he was murdered. Contact Ms Coto-Segura at Government of the Principality of Asturias, Asturias, Spain (olaya5@yahoo.es). References 1. Murphy LC The itches of Jean-Paul Marat. J Am Acad Dermatol 1989;21 (3, pt 1) 565- 567PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 2. Jelinek JE Jean-Paul Marat: the differential diagnosis of his skin disease. Am J Dermatopathol 1979;1 (3) 251- 252PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref 3. Dotz W Jean Paul Marat: his life, cutaneous disease, death, and depiction by Jacques Louis David. Am J Dermatopathol 1979;1 (3) 247- 250PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

Journal

Archives of DermatologyAmerican Medical Association

Published: May 16, 2011

Keywords: skin

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