Paul Joseph Barthez (11 December 173415 October 1806) 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 ...

, physiologist, and

encyclopedist An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

who developed a take on the biological theory known as

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

Life

He was born at Montpellier, educated at

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

, and began the study of medicine at Montpellier in 1750, taking his doctor's degree in 1753. In 1756, he obtained the appointment of physician to the military hospital in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

attached to the army of observation commanded by Marshal d'Estrées, but a severe attack of hospital fever compelled him to leave this post. In 1757, his services were required in the medical staff of the army of

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

, where he had the rank of consulting physician, and on his return to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

he acted as joint editor of the ''Journal des savants'' and the ''Encyclopédie méthodique''. In 1759 he obtained a medical professorship at Montpellier, and in 1774 he was created joint chancellor of the university. In 1778, he published his most famous work, ''Nouveaux élémens de la science de l'homme'', in which he employs the expression "vital principle" as a convenient term for the cause of the phenomena of life, without committing himself to either a spiritualistic or a materialistic view of its nature. Taking the degree of doctor of civil law in 1780, he secured the appointment of counsellor to the Supreme Court of Aids at Montpellier, but he soon took up his residence in Paris, having been nominated consulting physician to the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

. In 1784, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Paul Joseph Barthez was called upon to edit or contribute several entries in the ''

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 ...

'' of

Denis 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 promi ...

and d’Alembert.Frank A. Kafker: ''Notices sur les auteurs des dix-sept volumes de « discours » de l'Encyclopédie.'' Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie Année 1989 Volume 7 Numéro 7 p. 129
/ref> On the outbreak of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

he lost much of his fortune, but was much esteemed and honoured by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. He retired to

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Au ...

, where he devoted himself to the study of theoretical medicine. It was from this retreat that he gave to the world his ''Nouvelle mécanique des mouvemens de l'homme et des animaux'', which appeared in 1798. In 1802 he published his ''Traitement des maladies goutteuses'', and he afterwards occupied himself in preparing for the press a new edition of his ''Élémens de la science de l'homme'', of which he just lived to see the publication. His health had been declining for some years before his death, which took place soon after his removal to Paris. He bequeathed his books and manuscripts to J. Lordat, who published two volumes of his ''Consultations de médecine'' in 1810. His ''Traité du beau'' was also published posthumously in 1807.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barthez, Paul Joseph Physicians from Montpellier 1734 births 1806 deaths 18th-century French physicians Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) French physiologists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences