Pictured above is Dr Théodore Tronchin (1709-1781), one of the most celebrated — in some quarters, despised — medical doctors of the Age of Enlightenment. In this post, Alain Alcouffe and I will discuss what we like to call “the Adam Smith-Théodore Tronchin connection“. Simply put, Dr Tronchin would turn out to be the single-most important Lumière that Adam Smith would have the pleasure of meeting during his (Smith’s) sojourn in Switzerland in late 1765/early 1766, for it was most likely the Swiss doctor who introduced the Scottish philosopher to Turgot’s muse, the duchess d’Enville; who opened the doors of Voltaire’s country estate at Ferney to Smith; and who informed Smith of the latest developments involving Voltaire’s nemesis, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

At the time, Théodore Tronchin was Europe’s most famous médecin or medical doctor. [For an excellent overview (in French) of Dr Tronchin’s fame — or notoriety, depending on one’s opinion of Tronchin –, see generally Giacomo Lorandi, “Les dynamiques d’une célébrité transnationale: Théodore Tronchin et l’inoculation de l’Infant Ferdinand de Parme en 1764”, Gesnerus, Vol. 74, no. 2 (2017), pp. 240–267.] Tronchin’s main claim to fame was an innovative method of inoculation against smallpox he had developed, refined, and perfected over the years. Among his most celebrated deeds, for example, Tronchin had successfully inoculated the sons of the Duke of Orléans in 1756 and published a highly-acclaimed research article on the topic of inoculation for the famed Encyclopédie. Yet it was a serendipitous triple-coincidence that would fate Adam Smith and Dr Tronchin to finally cross paths in the fall of 1765.

One set of coincidences was Dr Tronchin’s residence in Geneva and his elite circle of celebrity patients: Voltaire, the duchesse d’Enville, and the Stanhopes, among others. As a result, Smith would have ample opportunities to meet and interact with Tronchin and with the members of his inner circle during Smith’s sojourn in Switzerland. Another significant coincidence was that one of Smith’s students during his Glasgow days was Dr Tronchin’s youngest son, François Louis Tronchin (1743-1785). [See F. E. Guerra-Pujol, “Adam Smith through the Eyes of Horace Walpole”, SSRN, p. 65 n.268, available here.] According to Smith’s biographer John Rae, Tronchin had sent his son to Scotland in 1761 in order to enroll him in Smith’s foundational philosophy lectures at the University of Glasgow. [See John Rae, Life of Adam Smith, London: Macmillan (1895), p. 59; see also Francis W. Hirst, Adam Smith, London: Macmillan (1904), p. 127.] In the words of Rae (1895, p. 59):

Tronchin, the eminent physician of Geneva, … sent his son to Glasgow in 1761 purposely “to study under Mr. Smith,” as we learn from a letter of introduction to Baron Mure which the young man received before starting from Colonel Edmonston of Newton, who was at the time resident in Geneva. It was of Tronchin Voltaire said, “ He is a great physician, he knows the mind,” and he must have formed a high idea of the Theory of Moral Sentiments to send his son so far to attend the lectures of its author.

But perhaps the most important coincidence of all was Dr Tronchin’s connection to the great Jean-Jacques Rousseau. As it happens, it was Tronchin’s younger brother, Jean-Robert Tronchin (1710-1792), “Procurator General” or chief prosecutor of Geneva, who first condemned Rousseau’s works in 1762. [See generally Chapter 4 of Matthew D. Mendham, Hypocrisy and the Philosophical Intentions of Rousseau, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (2001).] A few years prior to this prosecution, however, Dr Tronchin was a friend of Rousseau’s and was in regular correspondence with him. But by the time Smith arrived in the Swiss city-state in the fall of 1765, Dr Tronchin and Rousseau had had a serious falling out. In fact, Dr Tronchin would end up siding with his brother and concluding that Rousseau was a rogue: “The miserable Rousseau, who had the black project of overthrowing his fatherland in order to avenge himself, is currently the object of contempt and public hatred.” [See Letter of 15 February 1765, quoted in Raymond Trousson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau au jour le jour, Paris: Honoré Champion (2000), p. 588, and cited in Mendham 2001, p. 99, p. 202 n.131.]

In our next two posts, Alain Alcouffe and I will describe the chain of epistolary events that led up to the final rupture between Rousseau and Dr Tronchin, and we will also show why Adam Smith might have taken a keen interest in this state of affairs.