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

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

writer. Born at

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 ...

, Petit studied medicine at

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) 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 France, department 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 Lamoignon is the name of a French noble family: * Famille de Lamoignon (French article, use translate option to view in English) * Guillaume de Lamoignon (1617–1677), lawyer * Nicolas de Lamoignon (1648–1724), Guillaume's second son, public of ...

, 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 assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

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 Circulatory system, circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used ...

. 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 The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. ...

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 () is one of the most celebrated of the ancient Greek physicians. Little is known of his life. He was ethnically Greek, born in the Roman province of Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), and most likely lived in the second half o ...

'' 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