Charles Bouvard (1572 in Montoire– 25 October 1658) was a French

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and

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 ...

. Bouvard served as the physician of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

King Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

(as successor of Jean Héroard) and as the superintendent of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Biography

Bouvard was himself a son of a physician from his native city who taught him his profession in Bouvard's earliest childhood, yet died when Bouvard was still a small child leaving him an orphan Recognising his skill, he was brought up by Marin Liberge, a professor at the famous university of

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

which was to be his Alma mater and the place where he received his doctor title in 1604. Shortly thereafter he came to Paris where he became a professor at the Collège Royal. Bouvard was known for using his knowledge of plants to create a number of medicines from common ordinary

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s. The flower Bouvard is most closely associated with is the

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

genus ''

Bouvardia ''Bouvardia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It contains about 50 species of evergreen herbs and shrubs native to Mexico and Central America, with one species extending into the southwestern United States ('' B. ternifol ...

''. Bouvard also wrote the ''Historicae Hodiernae Medicinae Rationalis Veritatis'', a book defending medical rationalism, in 1655. pg. 290 Charles Bouvard was a close friend of

Joseph Barsalou (physician) Joseph Barsalou (1600–1660) was a French apothecary and physician. Biography Joseph Barsalou was born in Agen in the south west of France. He came from a family of apothecaries that was originally from Narbonne. Joseph Barsalou received no form ...

(1600–1660). Through their correspondence they shared ideas on medicine and treating patients with plants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouvard, Charles 1572 births 1658 deaths 16th-century French physicians 17th-century French physicians