, a very eminent French surgeon, was born at Paris in October 1732,
, a very eminent
French surgeon, was born at Paris in October 1732, and
after studying there, acquired the first rank in his profession, and in every situation which he filled, his knowledge, skill, and success, were equally conspicuous. He
became censor-royal of the academy of sciences, professor and demonstrator of the surgical schools, secretary of
correspondence, surgeon-major of the hospital of invalids,
and a member of the institute. His education had been
more liberal and comprehensive than usual. He not only
was an excellent Greek and Latin scholar, but was well
acquainted with the English, Italian, and German languages. Besides his public courses of lectures on anatomy and surgery, he instructed many private pupils, not
only of his own country, but those of foreign nations who
were attracted to Paris by his fame as a teacher, and were
delighted with his unaffected politeness and candour. In
his latter days Bonaparte appointed him one of his consulting surgeons, and he was one of the first on whom he
bestowed the cross of the legion of honour. Sabatier died
at Paris July 21, 1811. He retained his faculties to the
last, but we are told became ashamed of his bodily weakness. “Hide me,
” he said to his wife and son, “from
the world, that you may be the only witnesses of this decay to which I must submit.
” A little before his death he
said to his son, “Contemplate the state into which I am
fallen, and learn to die.
” His humane attention to his
patients was a distinguished feature in his character. During
any painful operation he used to say, “Weep! weep!
the more you express a sense of your sufferings, the more
anxious I shall be to shorten them.
”