The French physician and philanthropist Théophraste Renaudot (1584–1653) established a Paris practice that offered free treatment to the sick who were too poor to engage a physician. Renaudot's published a booklet titled, "La presence des absence" (The Presence of the Absent). The booklet listed a series of symptoms and carried diagrams of body parts. Patients were required to identify symptoms and check off body parts that hurt. This booklet enabled a patient to receive a diagnosis and treatment by post without a personal visit to the physician.