Emmanuel Persillier Lachapelle, M. D

While Dr. Emmanuel Persillier Lachapelle has gained prominence and won honor in various directions, perhaps the one act which will longest stand as an enduring monument to his worth and work will be the creation of the board of health of the province of Quebec, of which he is now the president. His efforts were a potent factor in bringing about the organization of this board, the far-reaching effects of which are immeasurable. In this and other connections he has entered upon a campaign of education for the purpose of bringing to the public a knowledge of sanitary and health conditions that will forever prevent widespread contagion and check the ravages of disease even in individual cases. A man of strong character and wide knowledge of men and things, his life work has by no means reached its full fruition. In private and hospital practice he has gained eminence and his name is associated with one of the strongest and best equipped medical schools of the country.

Dr. Lachapelle was born on the 21st of December, 1845, at Sault au Récollet, Quebec, his parents being Pierre Persillier and Marie Zoe (Toupin) Lachapelle, descendants of some of the earliest settlers of New France. His father was born at Cote des Neiges, in the county of Hochelaga, in the province of Quebec. Making his home at Sault au Récollet he followed farming and was proprietor of grain mills. His parents were Pascal Persillier and Marie (Ladouceur) Lachapelle, who lived at Cote des Neiges. The maternal grandparents of Dr. Lachapelle were Charles P. and Angelique (Leduc) Toupin, of Montreal. The ancestors came to this country in the early days of the French colony and were married at Laprairie, near Montreal, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence river.

After acquiring a classical education in the Montreal College Dr. Lachapelle entered upon the study of medicine in the old Montreal School of Medicine and Surgery and after a brilliant course was admitted to practice in 1869. From the first years of his professional life he devoted considerable attention to the question of hygienic science. He continued his reading and research after leaving college and is still as keen and devoted a student as ever. He has long been ranked as a successful practitioner of high standing in Montreal, especially prominent in the field of hygiene.

In 1872 Dr. Lachapelle was appointed surgeon of the Sixty-fifth Regiment, Mount Royal Rifles, and retained the appointment until 1886. He was unable to accompany the regiment on active service to the northwest in 1885, owing to the demands of his professional engagements, but he personally superintended the preparation of the medical equipment which the regiment took on service and secured the services of an assistant surgeon, who went with the regiment.

Dr. Lachapelle took a very active part in the refounding of the medical legislation and in 1878 was elected a governor and the treasurer of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Province of Quebec, retaining an official connection with that important body almost continuously since, while for nine years he has held the position of president. At the time of the memorable small-pox epidemic in Montreal in 1885-6, when hundreds of new cases of the disease were reported daily, until the death rate claimed ten thousand victims, and when the city was practically placed in a state of quarantine in respect to the rest of the continent, Dr. Lachapelle came to the front as an outspoken and fearless advocate of the drastic measures adopted to check the disease. The contagion was spreading so rapidly throughout the country that it became necessary to take advantage of an old statute law and to create a central board of health which would apply throughout the province means for prevention and cure. Such a course had previously been adopted in Montreal. The moment the horror of the great pestilence was at an end Dr. Lachapelle proceeded to organize the forces of medical science for the conservation of the health of the people. He was chiefly instrumental in getting the provincial government to pass a law for the creation of a provincial board of health with powers coterminus with provincial bounds. Prior to that time there was only a local authority operating within restricted bounds. From that time forward the body which Dr. Lachapelle may be said to have created was to have jurisdiction over the whole province. The beneficial results of this measure were soon seen in better methods, improved sanitation and, above all, in the general vaccination of the people who had been so terribly scourged because of the lack of this preventative in 1885. For the most important and valuable work which he did in this connection Dr. Lachapelle received high encomiums from all sections of the American continent and from foreign lands as well, not the least flattering being the recognition of the French republic in 1898 which conferred upon him the Order of the Legion of Honor. With the establishment of the provincial board of health he was appointed its president, a position which he has since filled with credit to himself and great advantage to the entire province.

Moreover the name of Dr. Lachapelle has been intimately associated with the effort to improve medical legislation and to raise the standard of medical education in Quebec. On the establishment of a branch of Laval University in Montreal, decided upon in 1878, and the inauguration of the medical faculty in temporary class-rooms in the old Chateau du Ramezay, on Notre Dame Street, he was one of the most ardent instigators and supporters of the movement and contributed in a great measure to its success. At the present time he holds the positions of dean of the medical faculty at the university and of professor of hygiene; from 1876 until 1894 he was proprietor and editor of L’Union Médicale. In 1885 he had the honor of presiding as president over the convention of the American Public Health Association. He had the honor of being elected an associate member of the Société Française d’Hygiène of Paris. He has been closely and prominently associated with the Notre Dame Hospital ever since its establishment and can almost be called its founder. The splendid institution which owes its establishment partly to the clinical requirements of the then recently founded medical faculty of Laval was incorporated in 1880, Dr. Lachapelle being a member of the board of governors and holding the position of general superintendent until 1906, while to the present time he is president of the hospital.

A stanch member of the liberal party, Dr. Lachapelle has often been urged to become a candidate in nomination for political preferment but although willing to use his influence for the benefit of his party he has invariably declined to accept a nomination because of a sense of duty toward his professional interests and benevolent engagements. In 1902 he was urged by many of the most influential citizens of Montreal, both French and English, irrespective of party to accept nomination for the mayoralty. He did accept provisionally but later withdrew to avoid racial complications. When the city government was changed about three years ago it was deemed fitting that one so eminent as an authority on sanitation and hygiene and one so dignified and high-minded as a foremost citizen should be a member of the new board which was henceforth to administer the affairs of the city. The Doctor has little inclination for publicity but yielded to the appeals addressed to him and became controller of Montreal. He has made a most admirable official, the value of his service being widely recognized. It is his desire to accomplish the best possible measures of reform during his term of office, and his efforts have already been productive of great good. He was elected in 1910 for a term of four years.

Aside from his professional and public activities previously mentioned Dr. Lachapelle is also a director of the Credit Foncier Franco-Canadien and of other financial institutions and life insurance companies. He has been identified with various national and benevolent movements and in 1876 had the honor of serving as general president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society. He is also a member of the British Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, Société Médicale de Montreal, the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Montreal, the Royal Edward Institute of Montreal and the Canadian Anti-Tuberculosis League. He has been attending physician to the Hôtel-Dieu and other institutions, and served as a delegate from the Canadian government to the second Pan-American Medical Congress held in Mexico in 1896, and to other similar bodies. He has been a frequent contributor to medical literature, writing largely for the Union Médicale du Canada and other periodicals. He is a councillor of the University Club and a member of the metropolitan parks commission. In religious faith he is a Roman Catholic and in political belief a liberal. He belongs to the Mount Royal, University and Montreal Jockey Clubs. By reason of notable ability he has attained to a position of prominence and power and has been termed “a second Laurier.” Were his ambitions along political lines he would undoubtedly attain distinction in that field. He prefers, however, the even broader field of professional activity wherein his scientific investigation and research combined with practical knowledge and skill have gained him eminence and made his life work of signal serviceableness to mankind.