A well-reputed Calvinist Protestant neurologist, physician, professor and Vatican adviser,^[1] Tissot practiced in the Swiss city of Lausanne. He wrote on the diseases of the poor, on masturbation, on the diseases of men of letters and of rich people, and nervous diseases.

He devoted an 83-page chapter to the study of migraine in his Traité des nerfs et de leurs maladies (Treatise on the nerves and nervous disorders). He used his own observations and the existing medical treatises of the day. His work is considered by modern doctors as a basis for "future generations of doctors." He is also recognized as "the classical authority on migraine."^[2]

In 1760, he published L'Onanisme, his own comprehensive medical treatise on the purported ill-effects of masturbation.^[3] Citing case studies of young male masturbators amongst his patients in Lausanne as basis for his reasoning, Tissot argued that semen was an "essential oil" and "stimulus" that, when lost from the body in great amounts, would cause "a perceptible reduction of strength, of memory and even of reason; blurred vision, all the nervous disorders, all types of gout and rheumatism, weakening of the organs of generation, blood in the urine, disturbance of the appetite, headaches and a great number of other disorders."

His treatise was presented as a scholarly, scientific work in a time when experimental physiology was practically nonexistent. The authority with which the work was subsequently treated — Tissot's arguments were even acknowledged and echoed by Kant and Voltaire — arguably turned the perception of masturbation in Western medicine over the next two centuries into that of a debilitating illness. L'Onanisme is now regarded to have been substantially influenced by the anonymous pamphlet Onania: or, the heinous sin of self-pollution.^[4]

Tissot's most famous work in his lifetime was Avis au peuple sur sa santé (1761), arguably the greatest medical best-seller of the eighteenth century.^[5]

On 1 April 1787, Napoleon Bonaparte wrote to Dr. Tissot complimenting him on spending his “days in treating humanity” noting that his “reputation has reached even into the mountains of Corsica” and describing “the respect I have for your works…"^[6]

• Treatise on the Health of Men of Letters
• L'Onanisme
• Avis au peuple sur sa santé
• Anleitung für den geringen Mann in Städten und auf dem Lande in Absicht auf seine Gesundheit. Beigefügte Werke: ... mit 2 fremden Abhandlungen begleitet. Die eine: Von der Unvollkommenheit der meisten deutschen praktischen Handbücher und den Vorzügen des Tissotischen. Die zweyte: Von den wahren Mitteln, ein hohes Alter zu erreichen / aus dem Schwed. des Herrn Dr. Schulz. Hamburg : Typogr. Ges., 1767. Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• Anleitung für das Landvolk in Absicht auf seine Gesundheit . Füßlin, Zürich 1767 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf

• Vermehrungen, Zusätze und Verbesserungen zu seiner Anleitung für das Landvolk in Absicht auf seine Gesundheit : zum nützlichen Gebrauch derer, welche die Augsburger, mit allergnädigster röm. kaiserl. Freiheit im Jahr 1766 erschienene Auflage besitzen . Wolff, Augsburg 1768 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• Von der Gesundheit der Gelehrten . Orell, Gessner, Füessli, Zürich 1770 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• Über die Krankheiten der Selbstbefleckung / S. A. D. Tissot. Aus dem Lat. übers., mit Anm. und einem Anh. begleitet von G. F. C. Wendelstadt . Ungewitter, Wetzlar 1797 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf

• Thomas, S (Feb 2009). "An 18th century account of the treatment of burns and acute wounds that is still relevant today". Journal of Wound Care. 18 (2): 85–7. doi:10.12968/jowc.2009.18.2.38748. PMID 19418787.
• Thomas, S (Jan 2009). "An 18th century account of leg ulcer care that speaks to us today". Journal of Wound Care. 18 (1): 42–3. doi:10.12968/jowc.2009.18.1.32155. PMID 19131918.
• Pilloud, Séverine; Hächler Stefan; Barras Vincent (2004). "[Medical consultation by letter in the 18th century]". Gesnerus. 61 (3–4): 232–53. doi:10.1163/22977953-0610304005. PMID 15889706.
• Eling, Paul (Dec 2004). "The Swiss advisor". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. 13 (4): 352, 380–2. doi:10.1080/096470490512472a. PMID 15545108. S2CID 34872488.
• Pilloud, S (1999). "[The sick patients of Dr. Tissot (1728-1797)]". Canadian Bulletin of Medical History. 16 (2): 215–45. doi:10.3138/cbmh.16.2.215. PMID 14533611.
• Louis-Courvoisier, M (2001). "[Personal contact between physician and patient as therapy in the 18th century]". Canadian Bulletin of Medical History. 18 (2): 277–96. doi:10.3138/cbmh.18.2.277. PMID 14518459.
• Karbowski, K (Dec 2001). "Samuel Auguste Tissot (1728-1797)". Journal of Neurology. 248 (12): 1109–10. doi:10.1007/s004150170038. PMID 12013595. S2CID 19710010.
• Donat, J G (Sep 2001). "The Rev. John Wesley's extractions from Dr Tissot: a Methodist imprimatur". History of Science. 39 (125, pt 3): 285–98. doi:10.1177/007327530103900302. PMID 11712571. S2CID 37767760.
• Jenkins, J S (Nov 1999). "Dr Samuel Auguste Tissot". Journal of Medical Biography. 7 (4): 187–91. doi:10.1177/096777209900700401. PMID 11624076. S2CID 9419237.
• Pearce, J.M.S. (Sep 2000). "Samuel-Auguste Tissot (1728-1797) and migraine". Cephalalgia. 20 (7): 668–70. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2982.2000.00100.x. PMID 11128826. S2CID 36466035.
• Singy, Patrick (2014). L'Usage du sexe. Lettres au Dr Tissot, auteur de L'Onanisme.

• Works by Samuel-Auguste Tissot at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Samuel-Auguste Tissot at Internet Archive
• Works by Samuel-Auguste Tissot at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)