Pierre Petit (; 1617–1687) was a French scholar,

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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

writer. Born at

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Petit studied medicine at

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, where he took the degree of MD, though he did not practice medicine afterwards. Returning to Paris, he resided for some time with the president Lamoignon, as tutor to his sons, and afterwards as a literary companion with Aymar de Nicolai, first president of the chamber of accounts. He died shortly after taking a wife.

Works

His most important works are:Robert Watt, (1824), ''Bibliotheca Britannica; or, A general index to British and foreign literature'', page 749 *''An Elegy upon the Death of Gabriel Naudé''. 1653. *''De Motu Animalium Spontaneo'', liber unus. 1660, 8vo. *''De Extensione Animæ et Rerum Incorporearum Natura'', libri duo. 1665. *''Epistolae Apologetica; A. Menjoti de variis Sectis Amplectendis examen: ad Medicos Parisienses, Autore Adriano Scauro, D.M''. 1666, 4to. *''Apologia pro genuitate Fragmenti Satyrici Petroniani''. 1666, 8vo. Under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Marinus Statileus: *''De nova Curandorum Morborum Ratione per Transfusionem Sanguinis''. 1667, 4to. In which he objects to the then fashionable speculation relative to the cure of diseases by

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

. Under the pseudonym Euthyphron: *''Miscellanearum Observationum'', libri iv. Utrecht, 1683, 8vo *''Selectorum Poematum'', liber ii. accessit Dissertatio de Furore Poetico. Paris, 1688, 8vo. *''De Amazonibus, Dissertatio''. Paris, 1685, 12mo. An attempt to prove, from medals and monuments, that a race of

amazons In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, ...

existed. *''De Natura et Moribus Anthropophagorum, Dissertatio''. Utrecht, 1688, 8vo. He also wrote, under his own name: *''Gelliani problematis explicatio, sive de continentia Alexandri Magni, et Publii Scipionis Africani. Dialogus''. Paris, 1668, 12mo. Within the dialogue, which he narrates, he appears as Euthyphro. In 1726, his ''Commentary on the first three books of

Aretaeus Aretaeus ( grc-gre, Ἀρεταῖος) is one of the most celebrated of the ancient Greek physicians. Little is known of his life. He presumably was a native or at least a citizen of Cappadocia, a Roman province in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey ...

'' appeared together with ''Life of Petit'' by Maittaire.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petit, Pierre 1617 births 1687 deaths 17th-century French writers 17th-century French male writers French medical writers French poets French male poets French male non-fiction writers