Melchisédech Thévenot

Melchisédech (or Melchisedec ) Thévenot (* 1620, † October 29, 1692 in Issy ) was a French naturalist and writer. He is best known as the inventor of the water balance and the author of the first French treatise on the art of swimming. He also worked as a cartographer, orientalist and diplomat. In his collection of travelogues he combined everything an educated Europeans of the 17th century could know about the world.

Life

The origin is shrouded in mystery Thévenots, and his education is unknown. Because of his Hebrew first name Melchizedek was suspected a Jewish ancestry. But maybe he also came from a family of Huguenots, as his original baptismal name was apparently Nicolas. Thus, he would have received his middle name in honor of a maternal grandfather, a certain Melchisédech Garnier († 1637 ), " avocat " of the Parliaments' in Paris. This could, at least partly, explain the origin of his considerable personal wealth. Supposedly dominated Thévenot addition to English, Greek, Latin and Hebrew even several oriental languages, including Arabic and Turkish. Therefore, he is often confused with his nephew, the traveler Jean de Thévenot Orient. (As shown in the figure in Gerrit Linde boom edition of the correspondence between Thevenot and Jan Swammerdam 's nephew, not his uncle. Melchisédech From self- portrait is not received. )

However, it is known that Thévenot 1647 served as French ambassador in Genoa and later in Rome, where he in 1655 at the conclave to elect Pope Alexander VII participated. In the 1660s his home was the meeting place of scientists in Issy circle, who was involved in the founding of the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1666. He maintained a lively correspondence with many eminent scientists of his time, such as Christiaan Huygens and Henry Oldenburg. In the winter of 1665 Niels Stensen dissected in his house a human brain before an interested audience. Thévenot 1684 was appointed head of the royal library of Louis XIV in Paris, a year later as a member of the Academy.

Work

Thévenots own scientific work is extensive. He studied astronomy, physics (especially the phenomenon of magnetism ), mathematics and medicine. Between 1658 and 1661 he undertook hydro-mechanical experiments with the siphon and the capillary effect. He recommended the use of lemon juice against a number of diseases as well as refractive roots against the Ruhr.

Shortly before the February 2, 1661 Thevenot invented the tubular level, which he filled with alcohol, mounted on a stone ruler and endowed with an optical lens. The date can be opened almost certainly from his correspondence with Huygens. A little later he shared with his invention of other scientists, such as Robert Hooke in London and Vincenzo Viviani in Florence. Incidentally, there is evidence that Huygens and Hooke later the introduction of the water balance for themselves claimed, even if only in their own countries. Since Adrien Auzout the Academy already in 1666 proposed to carry such water balances in their expedition to Madagascar, one may assume that they were in common use before the beginning of the 18th century.

Thévenot also participated in the compilation of texts of Confucius, which appeared in 1687 under the title Sinarum Philosopher. Leibniz compared it in a letter of 1692, because of its versatility, jokingly with Briareos, a monster of Greek mythology, with a hundred arms and fifty heads.

Travel reports

Presented descriptions of voyages of discovery of a Thévenots passions dar. Towards the end of his life he owned 290 manuscripts inventoried in 1692 and 1712 were acquired by the Royal Library. Between 1663 and 1672 he gave his relation de divers voyages curieux out ("Report of various strange trips "). In addition to a small number of extracts of ancient authors, such as Cosmas Indicopleustes, it's home abridged or full versions of ( partly unpublished ) travel reports from the period 1449-1672, Russia, the Crimea, the Tatars, China, Formosa, India, Persia, Arabia, the Holy Land, Siam, Bengal, Borneo, the Philippines, Japan, Egypt, sub-Saharan Africa and America. The whole consists of 55 booklets, which are combined in four richly illustrated volumes. The engravings show the flora and fauna of the country, their costumes and customs, representations of Chinese characters, cuneiform, and the Mandaean Scripture, such as geographic maps, some of which were drawn by Thévenot itself. From each band there are several editions, the content varies. Voltaire, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, baron de l' Alder, Paul Henri Thiry d' Holbach, Charles de Brosses, John Locke, William Beckford and Thévenots friend Antoine Galland, the translator of the tales from the Arabian Nights, had their own copies.

The art of swimming

Thévenots art de nager appeared in 1696 in Paris and in 1699 translated into English. Benjamin Franklin, an avid swimmer in his youth, and inventor of the flippers, one of his readers. During the 18th century, the book was reissued in France two times, each time with extended treatises on the history of swimming and everything related to it. On the basis of this book, the French learned by and by swimming, the breaststroke was long preferred.

However, the authors of the Encyclopédie, the book covered even from above. They threw Thévenot mere summary of previous authors, such as his assertion that man can swim by nature, if he would only overcome the fear of water.