Berger et église d’Eragny, by Camille Pissarro, a gift from the artist, inscribed to Dr. Daniel Parenteau. Image credit: Christies

Pierre Marie Daniel Parenteau M.D. (1852 – 8 April 1938) was a French Ophthalmologist, Physician to the Hospital St. Jacques in Paris, Chief of the Board of Ophthalmology, and member of the Societie d’Ophthalmologie de Paris, who converted to homeopathy, to become a member and Secretary of the Société Médicale Homoeopatique de France.

Parenteau was the homeopathic physician of Camille Pissarro, and he was a colleague of Francois Cartier, Conan, Escalle, Faure, Faute, Guinard, Marc Jousset, Pierre Jousset, Love, Nimier, Leon Francois Adolphe Simon, Leon Vannier, and many others.

Parenteau practiced in Paris, at 73 Rue de Rocher.

Parenteau’s  mother was Zélie Augustine Jousset, making him the nephew of renowned French homeopath, Pierre Jousset.

Parenteau attended the International Homeopathic Congress in Paris in 1889, where he performed secretarial duties alongside Vincent Léon Simon as one of the Congress minute-takers.

Parenteau was invited to become a corresponding member of the American Homoeopathic, Ophthalmological, Otological and Laryngological Society (established 1877) but did not take up the role:

TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN HOMOEOPATHIC, OPHTHALMOLOGICAL, OTOLOGICAL AND LARYNGOLOGICAL SOCIETY, HELD IN ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., JUNE 19th AND 20th, 1899.

Soon after assuming office the corresponding members selected at the last meeting, Charles Thomas Knox Shaw and Dudley d’Auvergne Wright of London, England, and Dr. Parenteau of Paris, France, were each notified of  their election. Dr. Parenteau did not reply to his letter of notification or to one sent by the President later.

In addition to his hospital and private practice work Parenteau was also provided ophthalmic care to Parisian homeopathic dispensaries. One of them was the Asile Alix Love, an homeopathic dispensary for children established in 1886 by Dr. James Love in honour of his mother and located in a populous area of Paris on Rue Ordener. In the first year of operation Parenteau provided 2,759 eye consultations at the dispensary.

Throughout his long career Parenteau submitted cases and articles to various homeopathic publications, including The Homeopathic Treatment of Cataract, The Homeopathic Treatment of Glaucoma, Albuminous Retinitis, Some Rare Cases of Asthenopia, A New Procedure in Partial Tentotomy of the External Recti Muscles, Des traumatismes oculaires.

Parenteau’s Obituary is in The Pacific Coast Journal of Homeopathy, Volume 49 (1938) by Leon Vannier.

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