La Brosse, Guy de

1. Dates

Born: Probably Paris, c. 1586

Died: Apparently Paris, 30 or 31 August 1641

Dateinfo: Birth Uncertain

Lifespan: 55

2. Father

Occupation: Physician

His father, Isaie de la Brosse, was a physician and a medical botanist. Indeed he was a royal physician.

As always, I assume affluent.

3. Nationality

Birth: French

Career: French

Death: French

4. Education

Schooling: Montpelier, M.D.

He studied chemistry, botany and medicine. Probably received his M.D. at Montpellier.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Calvinist, (Cth,) Heterodox

Various evidence makes it clear that La Brosse's parents were Huguenots.

Although formally Catholic, La Brosse was very close to libertine circles in Paris during the first half of the 17th century.

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Botany, Medicine, Pharmacology

Subordinate: Iat.

His major book, De la nature, vertu et utilité des plantes (Paris, 1628), was a theoretical book about plants in general. In it he raised questions about the generation, growth, and nutrition of plants. He also published a monograph on the causes of the plague, Traicté de la peste (Paris, 1623), and several other works on medicine, on plants, and on the collection of plants in the Jardin du Roi.

His titles make it clear that he regarded the Jardin du Roi as a collection of medicinally useful plants. The edict establishing it referred to it as a "Jardin des Plantes Medicinales" for the instruction of students of medicine.

From the beginning, La Brosse's idea of the Jardin included instruction in chemistry as a handmaiden to medicine, and he devoted part of his works to chemistry--Paracelsian chemistry.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Patronage, Medicine, Personal Means

Secondary: Government

In his youth, he may have been a soldier. By 1614 he had settled in Paris and was botanizing on Mont Valerien. By 1619 he was physician to Henry II of Bourbon, Prince of Condé.

In 1626 he had become one of the physicians in ordinary to Louis XIII.

In 1626 he also appointed as intendant of the royal garden (the Jardin du Roi) upon its formation. (The Jardin did not in fact open until 1640.) In fact, La Brosse's involvement in the Jardin was far more than that. The Jardin was largely his creation. He lobbied for its establishment and then harassed Richelieu until he supplied enough funds to maintain it. In a word, La Brosse created the Jardin du Roi.

La Brosse also practiced medicine, for the wealthy I gather.

8. Patronage

Types: Court Official, Aristrocrat, Government Official

He was appointed physician in ordinary to the king in 1626. See above.

In 1619 he was physician to the prince of Condé, Henry II de Bourbon.

Hamy refers to Card. Richelieu as his great protector, and even implies that La Brosse converted to Catholicism to please Richelieu.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Medical Practice, Pharmacology

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

As a Paracelsian, he was highly critical of the Paris medical faculty.

He was familiar with Mersenne, Gassendi, and the members of the "cabinet" of the brothers Dupuy.

He was closely connected with libertine circles.

Sources

1. Nouvelle biographie générale, 7, 505-6.
2. August Hirsch, Biographisches Lexicon der hervorragenden Arzte, (1929-1934), 1, 715. Z6658.B615 RF Antoine de Jussieu, Mémoires de l'Académie, 1727, pt. 2, 189-200.
3. Not in Dictionnaire de biographie française.
4. Antoine L.J. Bayle and _____ Thillaye, Biographie médicale, (Glasgow, 1906), 1, 464-5.
5. E.-T. Hamy, "Famille de Guy de la Brosse," Bulletin du Museum d'histoire naturelle, 6 (1900), 13-16.
6. --------, "Quelques notes sur la moet et la succession de Guy de la Brosse," ibid., 3 (1897), 152-4.
7. Jean-Paul Contant, L'enseignement de la chimie au Jardin Royale des Plantes de Paris, (Cahors, 1952).

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. N.F.J.Eloy, Dictionnaire historique de la medecine, 4 vols., (Mons, 1778), 1, 456-7.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.