The first female physician in France was the wife of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy.

In 1834, a beautiful and vivacious Parisienne, Marie Mélanie d'Herville-Gohier, undertook the lengthy journey to consult Dr. Hahnemann in Germany, ostensibly for the treatment of her neuralgic pains. (Later Mélanie stated that her real reason was her interest in Hahnemann's new system of medicine and a curiosity about its famous founder. Based on the turn of events, we can speculate as to whether Mélanie had ulterior motives in mind.) Mélanie gave her age as 32, although others said she was 35 (she must have been a Phosphorus!). She swept the 80-year-old widower off his feet, and they were married only three months after their first meeting.

Mélanie's role in Hahnemann's life is controversial. After eight decades of struggles, poverty, and adversity, he was able to enjoy the evening of his life with his young, beautiful, well-to-do and well-connected wife, who brought many members of the French nobility and high society to see him. On the other hand, Mélanie successfully isolated him from his children for the rest of his life. Mélanie convinced Hahnemann to come back to Paris with her, holding out the promise of his enjoying rest and the adulation of French society, many of whose members had adopted homeopathy. But after a long and strenuous trip to Paris, she convinced Hahnemann to practice again. The practice was probaby tiring for the elderly Hahnemann, but we can be grateful to Mélanie because it gave him the opportunity to experiment and perfect his LM method. Mélanie learned homeopathy from her husband and worked as his assistant in the afternoon, running her own clinic for poor people in the morning. She even printed her business cards as Dr. Mélanie Hahnemann, the first female "physician" in France.