The New International Encyclopædia/Ricord, Philippe

RICORD, Philippe (1800-89). A French surgeon, born at Baltimore. He went in 1820 to Paris, where he was attached in succession to the Hôtel-Dieu under Dupuytren, and to the Pitié under Lisfranc. He graduated in medicine in 1826, and after practicing in the provinces, in 1828 he returned to Paris, where he delivered two annual courses of lectures at the Pitié on surgical operations, and was appointed surgeon-in-chief to the hospital for venereal diseases. This post he held with brilliant success till his retirement in October, 1860. He won a world-wide reputation in his specialty. In 1831 he became surgeon-in-chief of the Hospital du Midi in Paris. For his suggestions on the cure of varicocele and on the operation of urethro-plasty he received in 1842 one of the Montyon prizes. In 1862 he was appointed physician in ordinary to Napeoleon III., and in 1869 consulting surgeon to the Emperor, having already on August 12, 1860, been raised to the distinction of commander of the Legion of Honor. In 1871 he was made, for his services in the ambulance corps during the siege of Paris, grand officer of the Legion of Honor. His works are numerous, the more important of them being: De l'emploi du speculum (1833); Traité des maladies vénériennes (1838); Lettres sur la syphilis (1851).