François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix (May 12, 1706 – February 19, 1767) was a French physician and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

who was a native of

Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie regions of France, region in southern France. It is one of the Subprefectures in France, su ...

. He was the brother of naturalist

Pierre Augustin Boissier de Sauvages Pierre Augustin Boissier de Sauvages or François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix (28 August 1710, Alès – 13 December 1795) was a French naturalist, researcher in provençal dialect and Encyclopédistes, encyclopédist. His brother was the phys ...

(1710—1795). Sauvages de la Croix, François Boissier de – Dissertation sur la nature et la cause de la Rage, 1777 – BEIC 3001126

He received his education at the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public university, public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest univ ...

, where he studied

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

with Pierre Baux (1708-1790). After spending a few years in

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 ...

, he returned to

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 ...

in 1734, where he served as a professor of

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

. Following the death of François Ayme Chicoyneau (1702-1740), he was named to the chair of botany. At Montpellier, he made important improvements to its

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, which included construction of its first

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

. He was a friend to Swedish naturalist

Carl von Linné Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

(1707—1778), to whom Sauvages de Lacroix sent botanical specimens from the Montpellier region for study. Linné designated the botanical

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Sauvagesia ''Sauvagesia'' is a genus of plants in the family Ochnaceae Ochnaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World'' ...

'' in honor of his French colleague. In 1748 he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

, of which Linné had been a co-founder. The following year he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. As a physician, Sauvages de Lacroix is credited with establishing a methodical

nosology Nosology () is the branch of medical science that deals with the classification of diseases. Fully classifying a medical condition requires knowing its cause (and that there is only one cause), the effects it has on the body, the symptoms that ...

for diseases, a classification system that was in the spirit of

Thomas Sydenham Thomas Sydenham (10 September 1624 – 29 December 1689) was an English physician. He was the author of ''Observationes Medicae'' which became a standard textbook of medicine for two centuries so that he became known as 'The English Hippocrate ...

's earlier work, and was in accordance with methods used by botanists. His classification system listed 10 major classes of disease, which were further broken down into numerous orders, 295 genera, and 2400 species (individual diseases).A History of Great Ideas in Abnormal Psychology
by T.E. Weckowicz, H. Liebel-Weckowicz Sauvages de Lacroix explained his nosology in the 1763 treatise ''Nosologia Methodica'', a work that reportedly was an inspiration to

Philippe Pinel Philippe Pinel (; 20 April 1745 – 25 October 1826) was a French physician, precursor of psychiatry and incidentally a zoologist. He was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of ps ...

(1745—1826) and his early research of mental illnesses.

References

* This article incorporates information from a translation of an article on "François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix" at the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has article ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sauvages de Lacroix, Francois Boissier de 1706 births 1767 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences People from Alès 18th-century French botanists 18th-century French physicians Academic staff of the University of Montpellier