Chicoyneau, Francis
, counsellor of state, and
first physician to the French king, was born at Montpellier
in 1672. Having obtained his doctor’s degree, though no
more than twenty years old, he was sent to stop the progress of the plague then raging at Marseilles, by the duke
of Orleans, regent of the kingdom. The boldness and
confidence with which he entered that city, where every
| one seemed only waiting for death, had a striking effect on
their fears. He encouraged the inhabitants, and quieted
their alarms by his presence; and his success was beyond
expectation. His services were rewarded by marks of
honour and a pension from the king. In 1731 he was
called to court to be physician to the royal children, by
the interest of Chirac, whose daughter he had married;
and after whose death he was made first physician to the
king, counsellor of state, and superintendent of the mineral waters of the kingdom. He died at
Versailles in 1752,
aged near 80. The most curious of his works is that
wherein he maintains that the plague is not contagious,
entitled “
Observations et reflexions touchant la nature,
les evenements, et le traitement de la Peste de Marseilles,”
Paris,
1721, 12mo. He published also a valuable collection of facts relative to the plague, under the title of
“
Traitedes causes, &c. de la Peste,”
Paris,
1744, 4to.
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