摘要:Figures See all figures Author J.-M. Milleliri Groupe d’intervention en santé publique et épidémiologie (GISPE), 82 bd Tellène, 13007 Marseille, Paris (www.gispe.org) Key words: history, medicine, Africa, Emily, Marchand mission, Fachoda DOI : 10.1684/mst.2013.0136 Page(s) : 355-61 Published in: 2012 Dr Jules Emily, health corps doctor in the French Colonial Troops, is a prominent figure in the history of tropical medicine, even though no major discovery is attributed to him, nor any invention. He was however a privileged witness to a crucial episode of the colonial history of the continent of Africa, of which left a detailed description: the Marchand mission, and its great feat, the taking of Fachoda. Beyond this famous event, J. Emily's writings also illuminate the life of a colonial doctor at that time, a dense life, made up of discoveries and unceasing activities, filled by providing medical care for military personnel as well as for the populations administered by the colony. A life “ in which a curious person, exercising initiative and practicing with passion his daily medical-tropical tasks, can have a beneficial role in improving the health of the people under his responsibility”, as another colonial doctor, Dr Abbatucci, reported in 1927.