Guy Patin

Patin, Guy (1601-72). A Parisian physician and member of a number of academic societies, best known today for his letters on political, social, and intellectual issues of his day. He was dean of the Paris Faculty of Medicine for a short period (1650-2), and professor at the Collège Royal from 1654 to his death. His entertaining letters abound in gossip and trenchant comment on medical and political matters; they express a deep commitment to religious toleration and free scientific debate and enquiry. During the Fronde he was an outspoken opponent of Mazarin; his religious views are consistently Gallican and anti-Jesuit; on medical issues, he was a conservative who opposed Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood and was cautious about iatrochemical medicine. He was a clandestine book-dealer and did much to encourage the publication in France of foreign medical scholarship.

[Ian Maclean]

Guy Patin.

Guy (or Gui) Patin (1601 in Hodenc-en-Bray, Oise – 1672 in Paris) was a French doctor and man of letters.

Guy Patin was headmaster of the School of Medicine in Paris (1650-1652) and professor in the Collège de France starting in 1655. His scientific and medical works are not considered particularly enlightened by modern medical scholars (he has sometimes been compared to the doctors in the works of Molière). He is most well-known today for his extensive correspondence: his style was light and playful (he has been compared to early 17th century philosophical libertines) and his letters are an important document for historians of medicine.

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