Hecquet, Philip

, a French physician of singular merit and skill, hut a strong partizan of the use of warm water and of Weeding, for which reason he was ridiculed by Le Sage in his Gil Bias, under the name of Dr. Sangrado, was born at Abbeville, in 1661, and practised first in that city, then at Port-royal, and lastly at Paris. He was not properly san grado, for he took the degree of doctor in 1697; and in 1698 had more business than he could attend. Though attached to the most simple mode of life, he was obliged to keep his carriage, in which he studied with as much attention as in his closet. In 1712, he was appointed dean of the faculty of medicine, and superintended the publication of a sort of dispensary, called, “The New Code of Pharmacy,” which was published some time afterwards. Hecquet was no less zealous in religious matters than studious in his own profession, and is said never to have prescribed in doubtful cases, without having a previous recourse to prayer. He lived in the most abstemious manner, and in 1727 retired to a convent of Carmelites in Paris, where he continued accessible only to the poor, to whom he was a friend, a comforter, and a father. He died April 11, 1737, at the age of seventy-six. He was interred in the church of the Carmelites, where is a monument with a Latin inscription by Rollin. This able physician published several works, nene of them devoid of merit. They are thus enumerated: 1. “On the indecency of men-midwives, and the obligation of women to nurse their own children,” 1728, 12mo. The reasons he adduces on these subjects are both moral and physical. 2. “A Treatise on the Dispensations allowed in Lent,” 1705, and 1715, 2 vols. 12mo. His own abstemious system inclined him very little to allow the necessity of any indulgence; and it is said that when he visited any of his wealthy patients, he went into the kitchen, and embraced the cooks and officers of that department, acknowledging that they were the best friends the faculty had. 3. “On Digestion, and the Disorders of the Stomach,” in 2 vols. 12mo. 4. “Treatise on the Plague,” 12mo. 5. “Novus Medicine conspectus,” 2 vols. 12mo. 6. “Theological Medicine,” | 7 vols, 12mo. 7. “Natural Medicine,” ditto. 8. “De purganda Mediciftl a curarum sordibus,” 12mo. 9. “Observations on Bleeding in the Foot,” 12mo. 10. “The Virtues of common Water,” 2 vols. 12mo. This is the work in which he chiefly supports the doctrines ridiculed by Lft Sage. 1 I. “The abuse of Purgatives,” 12mo. 12. “The roguery of Medicine),” in tlm-e parts, 12:no. 13. “The Medicine, Surgery, and Pharmacy of the Poor,” 3 vols. 12mo; the best edition is in 1742. 1 *. “The Natural History of Convulsions,” in which he very sagaciously referred the origin of those disorders to roguery in some, a depraved imagination in others, or the consequence of some secret malady. The life of this illustrious physician has been written at large by M. le Fevre de St. Marc, and is no less edifying to Christians than instructive to medical students. ¹