Demetrius Zambaco was a leading figure in the controversial medicine of the 19th centuryfor their participation in treatments and experiments on humans that would be penalized today.
He had been born in Constantinople in 1832, into an influential Greek family, so Zambaco had access to a privileged education which allowed him to train at the Paris Faculty of Medicine.
He chose this house of study, attracted by the intellectual and scientific atmosphere that characterized the city in the second half of the 19th century.
There, he specialized in the branches of dermatology, venerology, pharmacology and leprology, disciplines in which he would make important advances. Under the tutelage of eminences such as Jean Guerin, developed a passion for the study of chronic and contagious diseasesa field in which he would make pioneering contributions.
During the years of working in Parisian hospitals, he began to publish his first medical studies that consolidated it as a reference in venereal pathologies.
19th century medicine featured revolutionary advances, such as the discovery of germ theory and the development of anesthesia, but it was also marked by brutal practicessuch as mutilation and trepanation.
Positivism, dominant at that time, promoted scientific research based on empirical observation, but also allowed extreme experiments and unethical in the name of medical progress.
Zambaco’s participation in the containment of cholera outbreaks in Paris It was one of his first hits., and for this work he received the Cholera Medal of Honor in 1854.
This recognition strengthened his reputation, connected him with doctors and scientists throughout Europe, led him to speak at international conferences and soon after, he was already an authority on public health.
Zambaco’s participation in containing cholera outbreaks in Paris was one of his first successes.
Around 1872, Zambaco returned to Istanbul and quickly integrated into Ottoman high society. By their knowledge and practiceswas appointed personal physician to Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the last Khedive of Egypt, Abbas Hilmi Pasha.
In addition to granting greater prestigethese positions earned him the honorary title of Pasha, a recognition granted by the Ottoman government to figures of utmost importance.
During this stage, Zambaco continued his research on chronic diseases and developed the theory that the etiology of leprosy was hereditary., an innovative hypothesis that contradicted the dominant beliefs of the time. This idea was widely accepted until it was discovered that leprosy was of infectious origin.
In one of his most notable works, Journeys to lepersbased on his travels to Egypt, Palestine and other regions of the Ottoman Empire, documented the deplorable life circumstances of those infected with leprosy and advocated for dignified treatment that would end with stigma and the obligation to extreme isolation.
He denounced the lack of adequate medical care and criticized religious and social practices that allowed these patients to live in extreme misery.
Zambaco did not limit his practice to Paris or Istanbul and became an international doctor. Throughout his career, traveled to different cities (Athens, Copenhagen) to present, at medical congresses, his research on leprosy, but also on syphilis, morphinomania and castration.
During his travels, collected dataobserved new cases and carried out studies that he later published in prestigious medical journals.
His visit to Egypt and Palestine was fundamental, because there discovered cases of leprosy that had been misdiagnosed as syphilis. He insisted in his work on the endemic condition of leprosy, which convinced local doctors to register it as such.
While he prescribed drastic methods for women, he set himself up as a defender of men’s rights.
Now, if his medical career was internationally recognized, His personal life was plagued by scandals.especially his relationship with the London painter Maria Cassavetti, better known as Maria Zambaco.
She came from a rich greek family and she married Demetrius in Paris, in 1861. The couple lived in the French capital and had two children: Dimitrius and Marie Euphosyne.
But the couple did not work out, and soon she left the family home and returned to London. He stood out on the European art scene as sculptor and model for some of the most important artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including the painter Edward Burne-Jones, with whom she had an extramarital affair that affected the reputation of Zambaco, who was already in the crosshairs for his practices.
“Cure” masturbation
One of the most dark and controversial of her career was her participation in debates about the treatment of masturbation, especially in young women.
In the 19th century, onanism was described as serious threat to mental and physical healthand doctors provided treatments to “cure” those who practiced it. Zambaco was one of those who took these theories to the limit.
in his studio Onanism with nervous disorders in two little girlspublished in the prestigious medical journal on mental illness The Brainanalyzes cases of two girls affected by the “vice” of masturbation, to whom severe nervous disorders were attributed.
After having failed with other treatments, Zambaco proposed a brutal method: cauterization of the genitals with a hot iron to curb sexual impulses. According to his observations, this method drastically reduced the frequency of nervous spasms, which he associated with masturbation.
The procedure, inadmissible by modern standards, was seen as a valid medical option in its time, and Zambaco defended it with conviction.
This type of intervention showed a misogynistic and pathologizing medical mentality of female sexualitya position that was common in the 19th century and very contrary to the humanist vision that Zambaco professed in other areas.
While he prescribed drastic methods for women, he established himself as a defender of men’s rights, particularly of the eunuchs.
In his work The Eunuchs of today and those of yesteryear (1911) strongly condemned a tradition of the Ottoman Empire that consisted of the castration of men to fulfill functions of harem guardians. He supported the abolition of that custom that went against the principles of freedom and justice of the people.
Demetrius Zambaco died in 1913. He published more than 40 medical studies, many of which focused on leprosy, syphilis, and nervous conditions, and his participation in international medical congresses cemented his reputation as a pioneer in chronic disease research.
Although there is no biography of Zambaco nor does information circulate on the web, His figure has left a mark on literature. in the novel The last days of Verne (2024) by the Argentine writer Sergio Olguín, real events from the doctor’s life are intertwined with fictional adventures that link him to Jules Verne and refer to the scandal of the treatment of onanism and the accusations of malpractice.
The life of Demetrius Zambaco Pasha was a seesaw between scientific achievements, controversies and personal scandals. He also positioned himself as a reformist against slavery and the eunuch trade in the Ottoman Empire.
This activism for human rights was discretionary, since the fight against the barbarity of male castration is contradicted by his direct intervention in the application of savage and cruel methods about female erogenous zones and the regulation of women’s desire.
His legacy, although stained by these episodes, is valuable for the historical reconstruction of debates on ethics and the practice of medicine.
