His mother, Elisabeth Subreville, was deeply religious and ensured a strict Jesuit upbringing for her son. He was born in Montpellier in 1678 and grew up in a land torn by religious war. However, this was also a great time of prosperity for the French nation which was emerging as one of the leading world centers for both science and medicine. The Medical Leech Museum uses the fascinating medicinal leech to trace the social history of medicine from the days of the barber-surgeon to modern times. Since the pre-Roman period the surgeon was also the barber and his universal treatment was bloodletting.
Exhibits range from live leeches to paintings and porcelain as well as to bloodletting instruments.