GEORGE PHILLIPPE TROUSSEAU

George Phillippe Trousseau was born in Paris on May 1, 1833. He was the son of the distinguished Dr. Armand Trousseau who for many years was a leader in his profession and the author of many standard medical works. George graduated at an early age from the Ecole de Medicine of Paris and, subsequently, became a member of the faculty. In 1862, when still a very young man to receive such an honor, he was made a Knight of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honor for his professional services during several epidemics.

Dr. Trousseau served with the French Army in Algiers in the late 1850s and also in northern Italy at Solferino and Magenta. In 1866 he went to Australia and New Zealand.

Coming to Honolulu from Auckland aboard the "Nevada", Dr. Trousseau arrived on May 8, 1872. Very shortly after his arrival he was given the position of port physician. By July he had opened an office for private practice located on the corner of Fort and Hotel streets. In that same year medical history was made when a skin graft was performed for the first time in the Islands. Dr. Robert McKibbin, with whom Dr. Trousseau was to work many times in the future, was the surgeon and Dr. Trousseau was the donor of the skin graft which was grafted onto the leg of a patient injured in a collision.

In 1873 the doctor was made responsible for handling an epidemic of smallpox just introduced from San Francisco. He succeeded in limiting the number of cases to 38 and the deaths to 17. Upon Dr. Trousseau's advice, a concerted effort was made in the same year to segregate lepers, and he examined several hundred persons at the Kalihi Receiving Hospital for suspected cases of leprosy. In April, 1873, Dr. Trousseau and Dr. Edward Hoffmann had a traumatic experience when they went to the hospital to examine some of the patients. One of the patients pointed a pistol at Dr. Trousseau's head and threatened to shoot. The doctor dodged behind a veranda post and one barrel was fired without doing any damage. The doctor then tackled his assailant, and in the struggle the cap was lost from the other barrel, rendering it ineffective. The two medicos then left in their carriage and went into Honolulu to report the affair. The patient was later acquitted on the grounds of temporary insanity. In 1873 Dr. Trousseau was also appointed physician for the Insane Asylum at a yearly salary of $1200, a position he held until September, 1875.

Unhampered by any restrictions regarding publicity, several of Dr. Trousseau's operations made headlines. In September, 1875, he performed a tracheotomy on a ten-year old boy, and the "Advertiser" credited him with "rescuing the little fellow from the jaws of death". In another newspaper story about an operation in which four fingers were amputated the doctor was credited with introducing elastic bandages into the Islands.

In October, 1875, Dr. Trousseau sold his practice to Dr. F.B. Hutchinson and moved to Kona, Hawaii. Here he engaged in raising sheep, importing marino rams from France. In 1879 he sold his sheep ranch and started Kukuihaele Sugar Plantation at Hamakua, Hawaii, which he managed very successfully until April, 1882, when he decided to resume his medical practice.

Back in Honolulu he soon became involved in a number of jobs in addition to maintaining a private practice at an office on Punchbowl Street across from the Queen's Hospital. Once again he accepted the position of port physician, this was followed in May by his appointment to the Board of Medical Examiners, the next month he became a member of the Board of Trustees of Queen's Hospital, and in January, 1883, he became once more a member of the Board of Examiners for Lepers.

The office of port physician had its drawbacks, as the doctor discovered when in December, 1883, he, a pilot, and a crew of four went out at 5 a.m. to meet and board the incoming S.S. "Mariposa". When they drew near the "Mariposa" their hails went unanswered and the big ship continued on into port, leaving those in the boat with a long row back to shore. On the return trip Dr. Trousseau suffered severely from seasickness. A few days later he tendered his resignation, influenced, possibly, by his recent indisposition.

Dr. Trousseau was a Colonel on King Lunalilo's personal staff and also his physician. He and Dr. Richard Oliver attended his Majesty during his last illness in 1874. The doctor numbered many of the royal family among his patients and served as administrator of the estate of King Kalakaua. In March, 1884, he was appointed Knight Companion of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, and in February, 1885, he was made a Knight Companion of the Royal Order of Kalakaua.

The doctor took great delight in sailing, and in 1887 he purchased a gas launch. On one occasion he took a party for an afternoon cruise which was enlivened with a whale chase off Diamond Head, happily, the whale made his getaway. The following year he had a large catamaran built to his specifications. By June, 1890, the doctor had a new hobby, the raising of ostriches which he imported from Australia. His ostrich farm was located at Kapiolani park, but it was said that his birds ranged as far as Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki. Four weeks after the first ostriches arrived it was reported in the "Advertiser" that one female laid an egg in the presence of Mrs. S.G. Wilder and her grandchildren who happened to be visiting the farm at the time. The ostriches grew to number 30 birds, but in October, 1891, the doctor's partner in the venture left the Islands and he sold the farm.

In a complete reversal of his original theory about leprosy, Dr. Trousseau resigned from the Board of Examiners for Lepers in 1893 because he could see no advantage in segregation. In September of that year, he was Robert Louis Stevenson's physician on the writer's second visit to Hawaii.* In the course of his career the doctor seems to have held the position of port physician several times, resigning and, subsequently, being reappointed. The same is true for the Board of Health. After resigning in December, 1884, apparently in a fit of pique at President Walter S. Gibson, he served as president of the Board from July 8, 1887, to September 19, 1887.

On May 4, 1894, Dr. Trousseau died in Honolulu at the age of 61. He had been married in Paris and was the father of two sons.

He was a charter member and the first corresponding secretary of the Natural History and Microscopical Society organized in 1875 and an honorary member of the Honolulu Yacht and Boat Club.

*Information provided by Alex Capus, writer in Switzerland. See Arthur Johnstone, London 1905: Recollections of Robert Louis Stevenson in the Pacific. p. 124, 307.

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