Melchisédech Thévenot
Encyclopedia
Melchisédech Thévenot (c. 1620 – 29 October 1692) was a French
author, scientist, traveler, cartographer, orientalist, inventor, and diplomat. He was the inventor of the spirit level
and is also famous for his popular 1696 book The Art of Swimming, one of the first books on the subject and widely read during the 18th century (Benjamin Franklin
, an avid swimmer in his youth, is known to have read it). The book popularized the breaststroke
(see History of swimming
). He also influenced the founding of the Académie Royale des Sciences (the French Academy of Sciences).
, Greek
, Latin
, Hebrew
, and several oriental languages, including Arabic
and Turkish
. Thévenot's baptismal name was Nicolas, Melchisédech being added as the second (confirmation) name, almost certainly in honour of his maternal grandfather, Melchisédech Garnier (d. 1637), an "avocat" at the Parlement
of Paris, and probably a Huguenot
(given the Old Testament
name).
Thévenot was an amateur scientist and patron of many scientists and mathematicians, maintaining correspondence with figures like Jan Swammerdam
, whom he encouraged to tackle the origin of organism
s. He was wealthy and well-connected, in 1684 becoming the Royal Librarian to King Louis XIV of France
. He also served as ambassador to Genoa
in 1647 and then to Rome
in the 1650s. After the death of Pope Innocent X, he participated in the subsequent conclave
. He died at Issy.
, physics
, medicine
, and magnetism
, and demonstrated in the 1660s the possibility that atmospheric pulsations had something to do with human and animal respiration. Between 1658 and 1661 Thévenot conducted experiments on capillarity and the siphon
. He proposed the use of lemon
juice as a cure for various maladies, as well as ipecac
as a remedy for dysentery
.
Thévenot invented the spirit level (or bubble level) some time before 2 February 1661, which he filled with alcohol and mounted on a stone ruler fitted with a viewing lens. This date can be very accurately established from Thevenot's correspondence with scientist Christian Huygens. Within a year of this date the inventor circulated details of his invention to others, including Robert Hooke
in London
and Vincenzo Viviani
in Florence
. It is occasionally argued that these bubble levels did not come into widespread use until the beginning of the 18th century - the earliest surviving examples being from that time - but Adrien Auzout
had recommended that the Académie Royale des Sciences take "levels of the Thévenot type" on its expedition to Madagascar
in 1666. It is very likely that these levels were in use in France and elsewhere long before the turn of the century.
were published in his Relations de Divers Voyages Curieux (Paris
, 1663), a collection of translations of voyages of discovery (such as that of Cosmas Indicopleustes
). One of these was one of the earliest and most detailed depiction of southern Iraq
(his nephew Jean de Thévenot
later visited this region). Thévenot makes reference to the Mandaeans of the Basra
region, and includes a printed page from one of this sect’s holy books, one of the first printed appearances of the Mandaean language in Europe.
Thevenot is often confused with his nephew, the traveler Jean de Thévenot
. There is evidence to suggest that both Huygens and Hooke later laid claim to the invention of the spirit level, although only within their own countries. There is no surviving portrait of Thévenot, and an alleged portrait of him (such as can be seen in Gerrit Lindeboom’s edition of Thévenot’s letters to Swammerdam) is actually of his nephew Jean.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
author, scientist, traveler, cartographer, orientalist, inventor, and diplomat. He was the inventor of the spirit level
Spirit level
A spirit level or bubble level is an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface ishorizontal or vertical . Different types of spirit levels may be used by carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, surveyors, millwrights and other metalworkers, and in some...
and is also famous for his popular 1696 book The Art of Swimming, one of the first books on the subject and widely read during the 18th century (Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, an avid swimmer in his youth, is known to have read it). The book popularized the breaststroke
Breaststroke
The breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water a large portion of the time. In most swimming classes, beginners learn...
(see History of swimming
History of swimming
Swimming has been recorded since prehistoric times; the earliest recording of swimming dates back to Stone Age paintings from around 7,000 years ago. Written references date from 2000 BC. Some of the earliest references to swimming include the Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf,...
). He also influenced the founding of the Académie Royale des Sciences (the French Academy of Sciences).
Life
Thévenot came from a family of royal office holders (nobles of the robe), which partly explains his wealth. He was reputed to speak EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, and several oriental languages, including Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
. Thévenot's baptismal name was Nicolas, Melchisédech being added as the second (confirmation) name, almost certainly in honour of his maternal grandfather, Melchisédech Garnier (d. 1637), an "avocat" at the Parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
of Paris, and probably a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
(given the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
name).
Thévenot was an amateur scientist and patron of many scientists and mathematicians, maintaining correspondence with figures like Jan Swammerdam
Jan Swammerdam
Jan Swammerdam was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. His work on insects demonstrated that the various phases during the life of an insect—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—are different forms of the same animal. As part of his anatomical research, he carried out experiments on muscle contraction...
, whom he encouraged to tackle the origin of organism
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
s. He was wealthy and well-connected, in 1684 becoming the Royal Librarian to King Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. He also served as ambassador to Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in 1647 and then to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in the 1650s. After the death of Pope Innocent X, he participated in the subsequent conclave
Papal conclave
A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishop of Rome, who then becomes the Pope during a period of vacancy in the papal office. The Pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church...
. He died at Issy.
Scientific studies
Thévenot studied astronomyAstronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, and magnetism
Magnetism
Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
, and demonstrated in the 1660s the possibility that atmospheric pulsations had something to do with human and animal respiration. Between 1658 and 1661 Thévenot conducted experiments on capillarity and the siphon
Siphon
The word siphon is sometimes used to refer to a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. But in the English language today, the word siphon usually refers to a tube in an inverted U shape which causes a liquid to flow uphill, above the surface of the reservoir,...
. He proposed the use of lemon
Lemon
The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
juice as a cure for various maladies, as well as ipecac
Syrup of ipecac
Syrup of ipecac , commonly referred to as ipecac, is derived from the dried rhizome and roots of the ipecacuanha plant, and is a well known emetic .-Preparation:...
as a remedy for dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
.
Thévenot invented the spirit level (or bubble level) some time before 2 February 1661, which he filled with alcohol and mounted on a stone ruler fitted with a viewing lens. This date can be very accurately established from Thevenot's correspondence with scientist Christian Huygens. Within a year of this date the inventor circulated details of his invention to others, including Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Vincenzo Viviani
Vincenzo Viviani
Vincenzo Viviani was an Italian mathematician and scientist. He was a pupil of Torricelli and a disciple of Galileo.-Biography:...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. It is occasionally argued that these bubble levels did not come into widespread use until the beginning of the 18th century - the earliest surviving examples being from that time - but Adrien Auzout
Adrien Auzout
Adrien Auzout was a French astronomer.He was born in Rouen, France, the son of a clerk in the court of Rouen. His educational background is unknown. In 1664–1665 he made observations of comets, and argued in favor of their following elliptical or parabolic orbits...
had recommended that the Académie Royale des Sciences take "levels of the Thévenot type" on its expedition to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
in 1666. It is very likely that these levels were in use in France and elsewhere long before the turn of the century.
Other works
Many of Thévenot's maps of the Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
were published in his Relations de Divers Voyages Curieux (Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1663), a collection of translations of voyages of discovery (such as that of Cosmas Indicopleustes
Cosmas Indicopleustes
Cosmas Indicopleustes was an Alexandrian merchant and later hermit, probably of Nestorian tendencies. He was a 6th-century traveller, who made several voyages to India during the reign of emperor Justinian...
). One of these was one of the earliest and most detailed depiction of southern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
(his nephew Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot was a French traveller in the East, who wrote extensively about his journeys. He was also a linguist, natural scientist and botanist....
later visited this region). Thévenot makes reference to the Mandaeans of the Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
region, and includes a printed page from one of this sect’s holy books, one of the first printed appearances of the Mandaean language in Europe.
Thevenot is often confused with his nephew, the traveler Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot was a French traveller in the East, who wrote extensively about his journeys. He was also a linguist, natural scientist and botanist....
. There is evidence to suggest that both Huygens and Hooke later laid claim to the invention of the spirit level, although only within their own countries. There is no surviving portrait of Thévenot, and an alleged portrait of him (such as can be seen in Gerrit Lindeboom’s edition of Thévenot’s letters to Swammerdam) is actually of his nephew Jean.