François-Pierre Chaumeton (20 September 1775 in

Chouzé-sur-Loire Chouzé-sur-Loire (, literally ''Chouzé on Loire'') is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department The following is a list of the 272 communes of the Indr ...

– 10 August 1819 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

botanist and physician. He studied medicine, humanities and languages (particularly Greek) in

, afterwards serving as a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

in military hospitals. Finding military surgery distasteful, he opted for work as a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

Val-de-Grâce The Val-de-Grâce (; Hôpital d'instruction des armées du Val-de-Grâce or HIA Val-de-Grâce) was a military hospital located at 74 boulevard de Port-Royal in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was closed as a hospital in 2016. History ...

. Severely depressed by the untimely death of his wife, his friends convinced him to leave Paris and travel as a remedy for his melancholic state. After obtaining his doctorate in medicine at

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

in 1805 (graduate thesis "''Essai d'entomologie médicale''"), he relocated to Holland, where he remained for several years. Later on, he followed armies to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and the

Illyrian Provinces The Illyrian Provinces were an autonomous province of France during the First French Empire that existed under Napoleonic Rule from 1809 to 1814. The province encompassed large parts of modern Italy and Croatia, extending their reach further e ...

, and in the meantime, learned the languages of the countries he visited, while also conducting extensive research in their libraries. In retirement, he settled in Paris, spending the latter years of his life suffering from phthisis.

Written works

He was an editor of the multi-volume "''Dictionnaire des sciences médicales''" (publisher

Panckoucke The Panckoucke family was a French family engaged in publishing and printing. * Amélie Panckoucke (1750-1830), writer and salonnière, sister of Charles-Joseph; * André Joseph Panckoucke (1703-1753), founder of the Panckoucke bookstore in Lille ...

1812–1822. 60 volumes), and with

Jean Louis Marie Poiret Jean Louis Marie Poiret (11 June 1755 in Saint-Quentin, Aisne, Saint-Quentin7 April 1834 in Paris) was a French clergyman, Botany, botanist, and Exploration, explorer. From 1785 to 1786, he was sent by Louis XVI of France, Louis XVI to Algeri ...

and Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-Anne-César Tyrbas de Chamberet, was co-author of "''Flore médicale''" (medicinal plants). * ** ** ** ** ** The following are 20th century biographies of Chaumeton: * ''Notice biographique sur François-Pierre Chaumeton (1775–1819)'', by Ernest Henry Tourlet; Blais et Roy, 1904. * ''Le Docteur François-Pierre Chaumeton, noble figure de Touraine 775-1819', by André Jean Brut, 1949.Google Books
Le Docteur François-Pierre Chaumeton.

References

French military doctors 1775 births 1819 deaths People from Indre-et-Loire 19th-century French botanists 19th-century French physicians {{France-scientist-stub