[Bossuet (1627-1704) and medicine, a tutor in anatomy and physiology].

Abstract

In 1670, when president Perigny died, Bossuet was nominated by king Louis XIVthfor being the tutor of his first son, Louis de France (1661-1711) as the Great Dauphin, and he will hold this office, during ten years until 1680, within the crown prince's educational team managed by the formidable duke of Montausier. In that environment he was induced to write several books ; one of them entitled About knowledge of God and oneself, in his chapter II "About the body", depict - according to knowledges, ideas and prejudices of that time - the general anatomy and what will be later named physiology, the body functions, rather the animal than the human ones. He went over the main organs with their summarily descriptions and what he understood about their effects, and the main organic functions. This is the opportunity for understanding how the)6th century medical concepts were assimilated and translated by an unversed person though he was a great prelate, a great preacher and a great author.