Described by Jean-Yves Marniesse, a Monségur local historian, as the “Don Quixote of the Dropt”, Georges Rouhet was a man of many talents. His legacy is two-fold. Firstly as what we would probably call today as a naturopath with a great belief in physical exercise as a stimulant to good health – he was a fond of taking mid-winter dips in an icy Dropt. Secondly he was a talented horse trainer, as the postcards bear witness to. Not much is known about this latter skill and we have to date only the cards to show us.
He was born in the village of Roquebrune in the commune of Monségur in 1854 and died aged nearly one hundred years old, in 1952. In between he studied medicine in Paris and on finishing his studies moved back to the village of Taillecavat in Monségur. He wrote such works as “de L’Entrainement Complet Et Experimental de L’Homme; Avec Etude Sur La Voix Articulee, Suivi de Recherches Physiologiques Et Pratiques Sur Le Cheval” (1923?) and collaborated with others such as Esmond Desbonnet to write such works as “L’Art de créer le pursang humain” (1905). He opened schools in Bordeaux and Paris specialising in gymnastics and hydrotherapy etc.
Some of his views would be considered somewhat controversial today and he was very dismissive of his Dropt valley fellow citizens. He was very critical of their moral laxity and was against the general education of children. He was however somewhat of a “green” activist and complained about the cultivation of hemp which was retted in the Dropt causing a reduction of fish stocks by poisoning them.
