765 



PETIS DE LA CROIX, FRANCOIS. 



PETITOT, JOHN. 



763 



proposed by Raak, and which Raak first mentioned to him when 

 they were both at school at Odensee. 



PETIS DE LA CROIX, FRANCOIS, a learned French Orientalist, 

 was born at Paris, towards the close of 1653. He was the son of the 

 king's interpreter for the Oriental languages, and received an education 

 to qualify him for the same employment. At the early age of sixteen 

 he was sent by the minister Colbert to reside in the East. He spent 

 several years at Aleppo, Ispahan, and Constantinople, where he became 

 master of the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish languages. During his 

 stay at the firat-named city he translated into elegant Arabic an 

 account of the campaign of Louis XIV. in Holland, which his con- 

 temporary Pellisson published in 1671. He returned to Paris in 1680, 

 and two years afterwards was sent to Marocco, as secretary to M. de 

 Saint Amand, who had been appointed ambassador to Muley Ismail, 

 the reigning sultan. He is reported to have pronounced before that 

 sovereign a speech hi Arabic, which excited the admiration of the 

 whole court by the facility of the delivery and the elegance and purity 

 of the style. In the two following years he accompanied the French 

 armaments against Algiers, under Duquesne, Tourville, and D'Am- 

 freville, filling under each of these generals the situation of secretary- 

 interpreter of the marine, in which capacity he was employed to 

 translate into Turkish the treaty of peace, concluded in 1684, between 

 France and the regency of Algiers. In 1685 he performed the same 

 office with respect to the negociations with Tunis and Tripoli, when 

 he gave decisive proofs of his integrity and patriotism. It is asserted 

 that while the negociations with the latter power were going on (one 

 of the conditions of the treaty being that the Bey of Tripoli should 

 pay to the King of France the sum of 600,000 livres) Petis was 

 offered a considerable bribe if he would put down in the original 

 treaty Tripoli crowns instead of French ones, which would have made 

 a diSerence of a sixth part ; but his fidelity to his sovereign was 

 incorruptible. In 1687 he assisted the Duke de Mortemart in con- 

 cluding a treaty of peace and commerce with the empire of Marocco. 

 In short, it was through his intervention that all the affairs between 

 France and the Eastern courts were transacted from the year 1680, 

 when he was first employed in diplomacy, to the time of his death. 

 As a reward for his eminent services, Petis was appointed, in 1692, 

 Arabic professor to the College Koyal de France, and after the death 

 of hia father (1695) the office of Oriental interpreter was also conferred 

 upon him. From this period Pttis never left his native country, but 

 employed himself in various translations from the Eastern languages, 

 with most of which he was familiar ; for, besides the Arabic, Turkish, 

 and Persian, he is said to have been well acquainted with the Mogul, 

 Armenian, and Ethiopian. 



He died at Paris, on the 4th of December, 1713, at the age of 

 sixty, leaving a son named Alexandre Louis Marie, who succeeded him 

 in his office of secretary-interpreter of the marine, and made likewise 

 several translations from the Persian and the Turkish. 



His principal publications are ' Lcs Mille et un Jours' ('The 

 Thousand and One Dajs'), translated from the Persian, 5 vols. 12mo, 

 1'aris, 1710-12; ' Contes Turcs,' a translation from Sheikh Zadeh, 

 12mo, Paris, 1707 ; ' The History of Timur,' translated from the 

 Persian of Sheref-ed-din AH Yesdi, 4 vols. 12mo, Paris, 1722. Most 

 of his works however still remain in manuscript : these are his 

 'Travels through Syria and Persia, from 1670 to 1680;' a 'History of 

 the Conquest of Syria by the Arabs,' translated from the Arabic of 

 Wakedi ; ' The Bibliographical Dictionary of Haji Khalfah,' from the 

 Turkish; a 'History of the Ottoman Empire,' from the same language; 

 a 'Dictionary of the Armenian Language;' a work on 'The Anti- 

 quities and Monuments of Egypt ; ' an ' Account of Ethiopia ; ' a 

 treatise entitled 'Jerusalem, Modern and Ancient;' and several others, 

 the titles of which tire given at full length in the ' Memoir" sur le 

 College Royal,' by Goujet, Paris, 1758. In some biographies of Petis 

 de la Croix, a ' History of Gengis-Khan,' from the Persian (Paris, 

 1710), is attributed to him; but this is an error, since the above trans- 

 lation, though edited by Petis, was the work of his father, whose 

 Christian name was also Francois. 



PETIT, JEAN-LOUIS, was born at Paris in 1674. Littre, a cele- 

 brated professor of anatomy, being a resident in his father's house, 

 inspired tha young Petit with such a zeal for the same study, that at 

 twelve years of age he acquired sufficient dexterity in dissecting to be 

 appointed to prepare the subjects for hia preceptor's lectures, and to 

 be placed at the head of his anatomical class. At sixteen he was 

 apprenticed to a surgeon ; and so great was his zeal in his studies that 

 Marescbal, the chief surgeon of the Hospital La Charite", on going very 

 early in the morning to visit bis patients, more than once found Petit 

 asleep by the door, awaiting bis arrival, that he might secure a good 

 place during the operations. In 1692 he obtained the post of surgeon 

 in the army, an-1 was in actire service till 1700, when he returned to 

 Paris, and obtained the degree of Master in Surgery. Here he delivered 

 several courses of lectures to a school of anatomy and surgery which 

 he established, and in which many of those who were afterwards among 

 the first surgeons in Europe were pupils. His reputation rapidly 

 increased, and he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences at 

 l'arii, of the Royal Society of London, and of many learned societies. 

 In 1731, at the foundation of the Academy of Surgery in Paris, of 

 which he was one of the most active promoters, he was elected director. 

 He died in 1760. 



Petit was for many years the most renowned surgeon in Europe, 

 and contributed more to its advancement as a science than any one 

 who had preceded him. He not only raised the character of surgery 

 in France, but many of hia pupils were invited to take charge of 

 important offices in different parts of Europe ; and by carrying thither 

 his improvements, and some of his zeal, gave a fresh stimulus to its 

 progress. At the time of his death, Petit had been engaged twelve 

 years in the composition of an extended ' Treatise on Surgery.' It 

 was completed and published in 1774 by De Lesne, and is still a 

 standard work. The other most important of his surgical writings 

 are a ' Treatise on the Diseases of the Bones,' and numerous papers 

 published in the memoirs of the academies of surgery and of the 

 sciences. 



PETIT, PETER, was born 31st of December 1598 (Niceron), or 8th 

 of December 1594 (' Biog. Univers.,'), at Montluyon, a small town in 

 the present department of the Allier. When young he occupied 

 himself in mathematical studies and experimental philosophy, which 

 he afterwards evinced considerable aptitude in applying. In 1626 he 

 succeeded his father in the office of Controlleur en 1'Election de 

 Montlugon,' which office he sold in 1633, after the death of his parents, 

 and then removed to Paris. Here he was introduced to the Cardinal 

 de Richelieu, and appointed by that minister to inspect the sea-ports 

 of France and Italy. Between this time and 1649 there were conferred 

 upon him the appointments of provincial commissary of artillery, 

 intendant of fortifications, and geographer, engineer, and councillor to 

 Louis XIII. Upon his return from Italy ho communicated to Mersenne 

 a critical examination of the ' Dioptrics' of Descartes, which led to his 

 being introduced to Fermat, who had also questioned tho soundness 

 of the Cartesian theory. Subsequently however he became vory 

 intimate with Descartes, and an unreserved supporter of all his doc- 

 trines. In 1646-47 a series of experiments, made by Pascal and Petit, 

 confirmed the explanation then recently given by Torricelli of the 

 phenomena of the barometer and common pump. Petit died on the 

 20th of August 1667, at Lagni on the Marne, about five leagues from 

 Paris. 



The following list of his works is given by Niceron in the forty-second 

 volume of the 'Me'moires des Hommes Illustres:' 1, 'L'Usage du 

 Coinpas de Proportion,' 8vo, Paris, 1634; 2, 'Discours Chronologiques,' 

 4to, Paris, 1636 ; 3, ' Carte du Gouvernement d la Capelle; ' 4, ' Avis 

 sur la Coujonctiou proposed des Mers Oceane et Mdditerranee par les 

 Rivieres d'Aude et de Garonne,' 4to; 5, 'Observations touchaut le 

 Vide fait pour la premiere fois en France,' 4to, Paris, 1647; 6, 'Discours 

 touchant les lit modes qu'on peut apporter aux Inundations de la Rividre 

 de Seine dans Paris,' 4to, 1658 ; 7, ' Observationes aliquot Eclipsium 

 Dissertatio de Latitudine Lutetia) et Magnctis Decliuatione Novi 

 Systematis Confutatio,' published in Duhamel's ' Astronomy," Paris, 

 1659-60 (the object of the second of these tracts is to prove that the 

 latitude of Paris was not permanent, an opinion which had been enter- 

 tained with regard to geographical positions generally by the Italian 

 astronomer Maria) ; 8, ' Dissertation sur la Nature des Cometes,' 4to, 

 Paris, 1665 (written at the desire of Louis XIV., to lessen the alarms 

 of the people occasioned by the appearance of the comet of 1664); 9, 

 ' Lettre touchant le Jour auquel on doit ce'le'brer la Fete de Paques," 

 4to, Paris, 1666 ; 10, ' Dissertations sur la Nature du Chaud et du 

 Froid,' 12mo, Paris, 1671. 



PETITOT, JOHN, an eminent painter in enamel, the son of a 

 sculptor and architect, was born at Geneva iu 1607. Being designed 

 for the trade of a jeweller, he was placed under the direction of 

 Bordier, and in this occupation was engaged iu the preparation of 

 enamels for the jewellery business. He was so successful in the pro- 

 duction of colours, that he was advised by Bordier to attempt portraits. 

 They conjointly made several trials, and though they still wanted 

 many colours which they knew not how to prepare for the fire, their 

 attempts had great success. After some time they went to Italy, 

 where they consulted the most eminent chemists, and made consider- 

 able progress in their art, but it was in England, whither they removed 

 after a few years, that they perfected it. 



In London they became acquainted with Sir Theodore Mayern, first 

 physician to Charles I., and an intelligent chemist, who had by his 

 experiments discovered the principal colours proper to be used in 

 enamel, and the means of vitrifying them, so that they surpassed the 

 boasted enamelling of Venice and Limoges. Petitot was introduced 

 by Mayern to the king, who retained him in his service and gave him 

 apartments in Whitehall. He painted the portraits of Charles and the 

 royal family several times, and copied many pictures, after Vandyck, 

 which are considered his finest works. That painter greatly assisted 

 him by his advice, and the king frequently went to see him paint. 



On the deatli of Charles, Petitot retired to Franca with the exiled 

 family. He was greatly noticed by Charles II., who introduced him 

 to Louis XIV. Louis appointed him his painter in enamel, and 

 granted him a pension and apartments in the Louvre. He painted tho 

 French king many times, and, amongst a vast number of portraits, 

 those of the queens Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa. He also 

 occupied himself in making copies from the most celebrated pictures 

 of Mignard and Lebrun. 



Petitot, who was a zealous Protestant, dreading the effects of the 

 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, solicited leave, but for a long while 

 in vain, to return to Geneva. Tho king employed Boesuet to endeavour 



