The following is a brief excerpt from Tattoo History: A Source Book, by Stephen G. Gilbert now available in print.

Tattoo History Source Book: France

Tattooing was widely practiced among seamen, laborers and convicts during the first part of the nineteenth century. Members of the middle and upper classes, however, thought it beneath their dignity, and it was never popular among the titled and the wealthy as it was in England.

This attitude was due in large part to the influence of the Catholic Church. In the fourth century AD Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, outlawed the facial tattooing of slaves and convicts on the grounds that it disfigured "that which was fashioned in God's image." In 787 Pop Hadrian the First prohibited tattooing on any part of the body because it was associated with superstition and paganism. The ban was upheld and reinforced by his successors.

The Church's prohibition of tattooing was responsible for the fact that it was but little practiced in Europe until it was reintroduced in the latter part of the eighteenth century by sailors who had been tattooed in the South Pacific.

Scattered reports of complications resulting from tattooing began to appear in the French medical literature during the early part of the nineteenth century. M. Rayer, the author of a work on dermatology which was published in 1835, reported several cases of severe infections caused by tattooing. In 1837 the first recorded instance of a death following tattooing appeared in a work by Parent-Duchatelet titled "De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris". Parent-Duchatelet wrote: "This operation, so simple in appearance, cost the life of an unfortunate young woman who attempted to disguise a name which she had awkwardly tattooed on her left arm. This attempt caused a serious infection which ultimately resulted in her death."

In 1853 a physician, M. Hutin, reported the first case in which syphilis was transmitted by tattooing. He wrote: "A soldier allowed himself to be tattooed by a man who was suffering from syphilis and who had chancres on his lips. The soldier was a virgin and perfectly healthy, and the tattooer only punctured his arm a few times. The Chinese ink used by the tattooer had dried up in a shell and several times the tattooer moistened his needles by spitting on them and diluted the ink with his saliva. In this way he inoculated the soldier with syphilis. This resulted in serious complications and, according to the patient, almost necessitated the amputation of his arm."