[Electrotherapy and uterine fibroids].

At the end of the 19th century, uterine fibroids cause huge therapeutic issues: on the one hand they can reach an impressive massive volume; on the other hand they provoke endless haemorrhages. Dr Apostoli develops galvanotherapy which becomes the reference in French and international medicine before its rapid downfall as gynaecological surgery makes great progress at the beginning of the 20th Century.

[Evolution of the hospital institutions of Brussels and the progressive individualization of the departments of obstetrics].

The origin of Brussels hospitals goes back to the XIIth century when several institutions created by the Church were only aimed at lodging poor pilgrims. The evolution from ecclesiastic management to municipal direction ended up in the establishment of two main public hospitals devoted to health care : Saint-Jean and Saint-Pierre. The latter, founded under Austrian rule and associated from the start with clinical teaching, gained therefore a prominent position.

[Organization of obstetrical teaching and practice in our regions before 1815 (first part)].

As elsewhere in Europe, the origins of Belgian obstetrics are related to the double rivalry between medical doctors and surgeons on the one hand and between surgeons and midwives on the other hand. Extension of obstetrical teaching in our regions has been hampered because of political turmoil resulting from the successive territorial dominations by Spain, Austria, France and Holland. In this evolution, the organisational sanitary model emerging from the French revolution exerted a prominent influence namely through creation of the subordinate grade of "Health Officer" and the suppression of local medical colleges as well as of the sole existing university faculty of medicine.