Antoine Petit (23 July 1722 – 21 October 1794) was a French

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, master of

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (; 28 May 1738 – 26 March 1814) was a French physician, politician, and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out death penalties in France, as a less painful method of execution than ...

and Félix Vicq d'Azyr.

Biography

Antoine Petit, born in

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

where he received his doctorate in 1746. Soon he became a good teacher and lecturer in anatomy, surgery and

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...

. The accurateness of his diagnosis made him famous and he got a very busy practise, drawing people from every part of France, even of Europa. He was appointed anatomy professor at Jardin du Roi from 1769 to 1778. In the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, he founded a chair of anatomy then a chair of surgery. The professors, engaged and appointed by the University, had to teach for ten years then made way for younger. He was a member of

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

and wrote several articles for the

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

and

d'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

''. Antoine Petit amassed a significant wealth then, because he had no child, spent a part to found places that accord medical treatment. He spent more than 100,000

French livres The livre (abbreviation: £ or ₶., French for (pound)) was the currency of Kingdom of France and its predecessor state of West Francia from 781 to 1794. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of coins ...

to Orléans city: he appointed four physicians and two surgeons for free health care for sick people and those in every kind of need, in a house he built in this purpose. On market days, they took care of those from the country. In the same way, he appointed two

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

s and a

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

who involved towards the poor. In

Fontenay-aux-Roses Fontenay-aux-Roses () is a Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. In 1880 a girls school École Normale Supérieure was opened in the town. It was one of ...

, he donated a building to house the municipality medical officer. He died in Olivet, on 1794.

Bibliography

* Paris. 2 vol. in-12 * Antoine Petit (1757). Discours sur l'utilité de la chirurgie. Paris. in-4° * Antoine Petit (1765). Projet de réforme sur l'exercice de la médecine en France. Paris. in-4° * Antoine Petit (1765). Consultation en faveur de la légitimité des naissances tardives. Paris. in-8° * 2 vol. in-8° * Paris. in-8° * Paris. in-8° * Paris. 2 vol. in-8°

Notes

* A street bears his name in Fontenay-aux-Roses.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petit, Antoine 1722 births 1794 deaths 18th-century French physicians Members of the French Academy of Sciences Physicians from Orléans Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) French male writers