1750 studies of medicine in Montpellier; 1751 - 1754 at the Sorbonne in Paris; 1753 M.D. University of Montpellier; 1755-1757 military doctor; editor Journal des savants and collaboration with d'Alembert for the Encyclopédie; 1760-1781 Professor of Medicine in Montpellier; in his last years private physician to Napoleon I; 1785 chancellor, University of Montpellier.