town as well as court. He was, like his father, inspector-general of the military hospitals. He was a member of the academy of sciences at Paris, of the royal society
, son of the above, was
born in 1685, and rose to be a practitioner of eminence.
He was first physician to the queen, counsellor of state,
and greatly esteemed by the town as well as court. He
was, like his father, inspector-general of the military hospitals. He was a member of the academy of sciences at
Paris, of the royal society in London, and of the academies
of Berlin, Florence, and Bologna. He cured Louis XV.
of a dangerous disorder, which attacked him at the age of
seven years, and obtained afterwards the entire confidence
of the queen also. Whenever he attended as a physician,
he was regarded as a friend, such was the goodness and
benevolence of his character. He was particularly attentive to the poor. He died July 17, 1755. He was the author
of, 1 “Idee Generale de J'economie animale, 1722,
” 8vo.
2. “Principia Physico-Medica, in tyronum Medicinae gratiam conscripta,
” 2 vols. 8vo. This latter work, though
drawn up for pupils, may yet be serviceable to masters.
He also published some papers in the Memoirs of the academy of sciences for 1718, 1719, and 1721.
, a member of the academy of sciences at Paris, and member of the
, a member of the academy
of sciences at Paris, and member of the museum in the
same city, was born at Salon, in Provence, in 1752, of
an old and respectable family. He was destined for the
church, and sent to Paris to complete his theological studies. He rose to the dignity of canon, but by the death
of his father and elder brother acquired property, which
enabled him to follow the bent of his inclinations, by devoting himself to the physical sciences. He travelled
through Provence and Dauphine*, and scaled the Alps and
Pyrenees; “at the sight of these vast natural laboratories,
the bent of his mind burst forth instantaneously; he climbed
to the summit of rocks, and explored the abyss of caverns,
weighed the air, analysed specimens, and in this ardent
fancy, having attained the secrets of creation, he formed
a new system of the world.
” Upon his return home, he
applied with great ardour to the study of meteorology,
natural philosophy, and the other branches of the history
of nature. He spent three years at Paris, and gave to the
learned societies there many very valuable papers, particularly a memoir on the Cretans, a memoir on the theory
of the winds, and a treatise on the alteration in the course
of rivers, particularly the Rhone. He, again visited Switzerland and Italy, going first to Turin, where he allied
himself to the learned of that country: after his return,
laden with the spoils of the countries which he traversed,
he employed himself in the arrangement of the interesting
fruits of his journey. It was at the time when Lamanon
was preparing for the press his great work on the “Theory
of the Earth,
” that the French government conceived the
vast project of completing the discoveries of captain Cook;
the Academy of sciences was entrusted with the care of
selecting men capable of rectifying the common notions of
the southern hemisphere, of improving hydrography, and
advancing the progress of natural history; they invited,
at the recommendation of the illustrious Condorcet, Lamanon to share the danger, and to partake in the glory of
this great enfrerprize. He eagerly caught at the offer,
hastened to Paris, refused, in a conference with the minister, the salary offered him, and taking a hasty leave of
his friends, departed for Brest. On the 1st of August,
1785, the armament set sail under the orders of La Perouse, an experienced commander: the commencement
of the voyage was highly prosperous. After some delays,
and having embraced every opportunity of making observations, the vessels arrived at the island of Maouna,
one of the southern archipelago. Lamanon, eager to assure himself of the truth of the accounts of that country,
debarked with Langlc, the second in command. Having
explored the place, and being upon the point of returning,
they were attacked by the natives; a combat ensued, and
they, with several of the boat’s crew, fell a sacrifice to the
fury of these barbarians. Thus perished Lamanon, a
young man ardent in the pursuits of science, disinterested
in his principles, and a zealous advocate for the interests
of freedom. Uis eulogist, M. Ponce, said of him, “that
be seemed born to bring about a revolution in science;
the depth of his ideas, the energy of his character, the
sagacity of his mind, united to that lively curiosity that
can draw instruction out of every thing which he saw, and
which leaves nothing unexplored, would have led him to
the most valuable discoveries/
”
ich occasioned the physicians to send him back to his native air, where he died Nov. 1, 1730. He was a member of the academy of sciences at Paris, of the royal society
Having executed these munificent designs, he returned
to Marseilles in 1728, for the sake of finishing some philosophical observations upon the sea ywhich he had formerly
begun there but was interrupted by the stroke of an
apoplexy in 1729, which occasioned the physicians to send
him back to his native air, where he died Nov. 1, 1730.
He was a member of the academy of sciences at Paris, of
the royal society at London, and of that of Montpelier.
His writings are numerous and valuable, in French, Italian,
and Latin, and upon philosophical subjects. The principal are, 1. “Observations concerning the Thracian Bosphorus,
” Rome, Histoire Physique de la Mer,
”
Amst. Danubius Pannonico-mysicus,
” a
description of the Danube in its Hungarian and Turkish
course, 1726, 6 vols. atlas folio. It commences with geographical and hydrographical observations; from thence it
proceeds to the history and antiquities of all the places
washed by its stream; to the mineralogy, zoology, and
botany of its borders, and concludes with meteorological
and physical remarks. He published also “A Dissertation
n the Bolognian Phosphorus;
” “Memoir concerning the
Flowers of Coral;
” “Dissertation on the Generation of
Fungi;
” “On Trajan’s Bridge.
”
sixteen years of age; though he afterwards became first physician in ordinary to the king of France, a member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and of the Royal
, a celebrated French physician,
was born at Merey, near Mont fort- Lamaury, a small town
of the isle of France, in the year 1694. He was the son of
a labourer, and worked in the fields till he was sixteen
years of age; though he afterwards became first physician
in ordinary to the king of France, a member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and of the Royal Society of
London. He did not even learn to read till the period
above-mentioned, when one of the books in which he first
delighted was the “Maison Rustique.
” The surgeon of
the village gave him a slight knowledge of Greek and Latin, with some of the first principles of his art after which
he repaired to the capital, where he completed his knowledge of it. Having obtained the requisite qualifications,
he first practised his profession at Mantes but M. de la
Peyronie, having discovered his talents, and thinking them
lost in a small town, invited him to Paris, to be secretary to
an academy of surgery, which he was desirous to establish.
To the first collection of memoirs published by this society
Quesnay prefixed a preface, which is considered as one of
the compietest performances of the kind. The gout at
length disqualified him for the practice of surgery, and he
applied himself to medicine, wherein he became no less
eminent. Towards the latter end of life his early taste for
agricultural studies revived, and he became a leading man
in the sect of ceconomists, who afterwards made so bad a
use of their influence, by circulating democratical principles. Quesnay had many good qualities, among which
were humanity and charity, with a strong mind and philosophical equality of temper, under the pains of the gout.
He lived to the age of eighty, and in his very last years
involved himself so deeply in mathematical studies that he
fancied he had discovered at once the two great problems,
of the trisection of an angle, and the quadrature of the
circle. He died in December 1774. Louis XV“. was
much attached to Quesnay, called him
” son penseur,“his thinker; and, in allusion to that name, gave him three
pansies, or
” pensees," for his arms.