Bertholon, Pierre

(b. Lyons, France, 28 October 1741: d Lyons, 21 April 1800)

physics.

Bertholon, a priest of the Lazarist order, spent time in Lyons, Paris, and Béziers before settling in Montpellier, where he was invited by the États de Languedoc to teach all aspects of contemporary science. He held the chair of physics specially created for him in 1784 by the Société Royale des Sciences de Montpellier. His courses were greatly appreciated and were given regularly until the Revolution—and privately even later. Bertholon taught physics at the “École Centrale de l’Hérault in 1791 and in Lyons in 1797. His renunciation of the priesthood was probably the cause of his leaving the school in Lyons. He died three years later.

Bertholon’s scientific contribution is important both qualitatively and quantitatively, for it included areas of great diversity—including urban public health, agriculture, aerostatics, and fires. He is particularly well known for his work in physics, especially in electricity. He played the same role in the south of France that the Abbé Nollet played in Paris; that is, he contributed greatly to the development of research in electricity—as much by work and personal experience as by his lectures. Three principal works brought him fame. De l’éctricité des météories is a study of all atmospheric manifestations, as well as of volcanoes and earthquakes; Bertholon proposed to overcome the latter by sinking metal shafts into the ground. Influenced by his friend Benjamin Franklin, he supplied southern France with lightning rods. De l’électricité des végétaux deals with the application of electricity to the growth of plants; for this Bertholon used an electrovegetometer of his own invention. De l’électricité du corps humain dans l’état de santé et de maladie classifies all ailments according to their positive live or negative electrical reactions. Appropriate therapy is advised for each: positive or negative electricity, electric baths, aigrettes, electric sparks, electric shock, or impressions de soufflee—“When the face, the back of the hand, or another part of the body the sensitivity of which is not too weakened by touch is brought near an electrified conductor, there is felt the impression of a fresh breeze, of a light breath, or of a cobweb.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

louis Dulieu, “L’Abbé Bertholon,” in Cahier lyonnais d’histoire de la médecine; 6 , no. 2 (1961), includes a complete bibliography of Bertholon’s works (publications letters, and manuscripts, as well as writings that have not been found) and a bibliography of secondary literature.

Louis Duueu