[Vicq d'Azyr and the French Revolution]

Born in April 23th, 1748, at Valognes, in Normandy, Félix Vicq d'Azyr was at once a great doctor, a talented naturalist and a distinguished man of letters. Member of the "Académie des sciences" in 1774, he founded, in 1776, the "Société royale de médecine" in Paris, future "Académie", whose he was the permanent secretary. He is the originator of the comparative anatomy. The successor to Buffon at the "Académie française" in 1788, he became Principal Doctor to the Queen Marie-Antoinette in 1789. From that time, his aristocratic tendencies drew revolutionary court's attention to him. Already sick, summary executions of his friends terrified him. He escaped Guillotine, but tuberculosis killed him, on June the 20th, 1794. He left a great work, especially in anatomy and physiology, and a lot of historical eulogies.