Mémoire qui a rapporté le prix au jugement de la société libre des sciences physiques et médicales de Liège dans sa séance publique du 6 juillet 1807 sur la question proposée en ces termes: Déterminer quelle est l’influence des passions sur la production des maladies, par M. Elie-Calabre Debreuze, doct. en med. &c

A physician in the Belgian city of Liège, Elie Calabre de Breuze (1779–1847) produced several publications discussing forensic medicine and what might now be regarded as psychosomatic aspects of health.

De Breuze's L'influence des passions sur la production de la maladie draws on Voltaire, Rousseau and other enlightenment thinkers and on the writings of Swiss physician Samuel-Auguste Tissot (1728–1797), an expert on nervous maladies best known for his treatise on the supposed dangers of masturbation.

De Breuze's text offers a classification and analysis of the passions. Several are centrally related to sexuality, notably "l'amour heureux," "l'amour malheureux," "le désir" and "la jalousie"—plus "l'amitié," distinguished as having origins and physical and psychological effects which generally but not always differ from "l'amour."

Among the conditions he discusses as arising from love and desire are "la manie" and "l'hysterie." A section on "Anomalies" specifically focuses on sexual maladies: "anaphrodisie, priapisme, érotomanie, &c, &c." Throughout the text, De Breuze assesses what he sees as differing forms and effects of the passions in women and men.

NOTE: Wraps somewhat worn and with minor spotting; chip and short tear to outside upper corner of front wrap; leaves untrimmed; margins slightly dusty and yellowed.