, the inventor of modern nosology, was born at Alais, in Lower Languedoc,
, the inventor of
modern nosology, was born at Alais, in Lower Languedoc,
May 12, 1706. He appears to have owed little to his first
tutors, but his own talents enabled him to make a rapid
progress in literature and philosophy. With a view to
study physic, he went to Montpellier in 1722, and received
the degree of doctor in 1726. The thesis which he
clefended on this occasion was on a singular subject, “Si l'amour peut etre gueri par les remedes tire’s des plantes?
”
To determine whether love can be cured by herbs seems
rather a trial of skill, than a serious discussion. It procured
him, however, the name of the love-doctor, and it is said
that he wrote some poems on the same subject. In 1730,
he went to Paris with a view to farther improvement
in his profession, and afterwards returned to Montpellier, where he obtained a professorship in 1734. His reputation for ingenuity of speculation and extensive reading
for some time retarded his practice, but these speculations
were not allowed much weight in the treatment of his patients. In 1740, he was appointed demonstrator of the
plants in the botanic garden, and in 1752 he was made professor of botany. He married in 1748, and had two sons
and four daughters, who^ survived him. A serious disease,
which continued nearly t'wo years, proved fatal in the midst
of his useful and honourable career, in the month of February, 1767, in the sixty- first year of his age.