CABANIS, Peter John George, a distinguished writer and physician at Paris, was born at Conac in 1757. His father, John Baptiste Cabanis, was a lawyer of eminence, and chief magistrate of a district in the Lower Limousin, highly respected for his extensive knowledge and inflexible integrity, and entitled to the gratitude of his country for the many improvements he has introduced in agriculture and farming. He brought the culture of the vine to great perfection in his province, and introduced a mixed breed of sheep, by crossing the Spanish with those of Limousin and Berri. France is more particularly indebted to him, however, for the successful methods he discovered of grafting fruit trees, and also for contributing to render more general the use of the potato in the southern provinces. He was exceedingly anxious that his son, the subject of the present article, and who had given early indications of talent, should have the advantage of a learned education; and he accordingly placed him, when only seven years old, under the tuition of a neighbouring priest. It was remarked that, even at this early age, he had acquired habits of steadiness and perseverance, from which, under proper direction, the best results might be expected. At the age of ten he entered the college of Brive, where the severity of discipline to which he was subjected had an injurious effect upon his temper, and fostered that habitual impatience of restraint which formed part of his character, and which afterwards so frequently operated to interrupt his progress. When raised to the second class, he was fortunate in meeting with a master whose kind treatment soon softened a disposition which harshness only had rendered stubborn and intractable. He was not only reconciled to study, but applied to it with the utmost diligence, and became passionately fond of the great models of poetry and eloquence which were put into his hands. At a later period, being again exposed to the rigorous control of one of the. heads of the college, his spirit was once more roused; he came to the determination of provoking the anger of his master, and even suffered himself to be accused of a fault of which he was innocent, in the hope that he might get expelled. Persisting in this extraordinary mode of conduct, he soon accomplished his object, and was sent back to his father. But far from enjoying[7:5:763] any relaxation under the paternal roof, he now found himself under a subjection still more rigorous and insupportable than that from which he had managed to escape. Indignant at the yoke imposed upon him, he relapsed into his habits of obstinacy, and would do nothing. After a year had thus passed in sullenness, his father became sensible that other measures than those of severity must be tried, and adopted the bold expedient of taking him to Paris, and leaving him there, at the age of fourteen, without any restraint on his actions, or even commissioning any one to superintend his conduct. The experiment was hazardous in the extreme, but it was attended with complete success. Young Cabanis no sooner felt himself at full liberty to do as he pleased, than his love of literature revived, and he engaged with ardour in the pursuit. He had formerly paid no attention to the lectures of his professors; but he now, of his own accord, resumed those branches of his education in which he had remained deficient, and prosecuted them with the same perseverance which marked his character throughout. He devoted himself entirely to the cultivation of his mind, and associated only with a few chosen companions of his own age, who had a congenial taste for literature, and an equal desire of improvement.

Thus constantly occupied, two years passed away with a rapidity which astonished him, when he received a letter from his father, offering him the place of secretary to a Polish nobleman of high rank. He had now to choose between accepting a situation, whi'ch, although it would totally interrupt his present pursuits, might give him the power of resuming them at some future period, or returning to his family, where he felt that all his exertions must be paralysed, and his hopes blighted by neglect. He embraced, therefore, without hesitation, the offer made to him, and, though only sixteen, committed himself into the hands of strangers, in a distant country, which was represented to him as in a state of barbarism. This was in 1773, the year during which that diet was sitting which was to deliberate upon giving its sanction to the first partition of Poland. The corrupt intrigues and compulsory measures which were practised on that occasion gave him an insight into the affairs of the world peculiarly revolting to a youthful and generous mind, and inspired him with a contempt for mankind, and a degree of misanthropic gloom, which are generally the fruits of a later experience of human depravity. He returned to Paris two years afterwards, when Turgot, the friend of his father, was minister of finance. On being presented to this statesman, he was received with kindness, and would soon have been placed in a situation perfectly conformable to his tastes and wishes, had not a court intrigue produced the sudden downfal of the minister.

Thus the only fruits which he had gathered from his travels were the knowledge of the German language, and a premature acquaintance with the world. He now felt the necessity of making up for the time he had lost, and again applied to his studies with his former ardour. His father, feeling it incumbent upon him to second his efforts, secured to him the means of subsistence for two or three years longer, which was all that Cabanis desired. He had contracted a friendship with the poet Roucher, who possessed some celebrity. This connection rekindled his taste for poetry; and the French Academy having proposed as a prize subject the translation of a passage in the Iliad, he not only ventured to appear as competitor, but set about translating the entire poem. The two specimens which he sent to the Academy did not obtain any public notice, but they were judged of favourably by several persons of taste; and some other fragments that were published among the notes to the poem Des Mois, met with general approbation. He received the approbation of those critics who were the dispensers of literary fame in Paris, and was introduced at once into a large circle of acquaintance, where he was everywhere greeted with acclamation. He was soon, however, sensible of the emptiness of these applauses; and, dissatisfied with successes that offered no prospect of solid advantage, he^sunk into a state of melancholy, which, together with his excessive application to study, began visibly to prcy upon his constitution. His father now urged him to choose a useful profession, and he at length decided for that of medicine, which, embracing such various objects of study, presented an ample field for the exertions of his active mind, while it necessitated that degree of bodily exercise which had become so necessary for the preservation of his health. Dubreuil, whose counsels had had much influence with him in forming this determination, offered to be his guide in the new and arduous career which he was commencing. Cabanis continued for six years the pupil of this able master, following his steps both in his hospital and private practice, and conducting his studies conformably to his instructions. In 1789 he published Observations sur les Hôpitaux, a work which procured him the appointment of administrator of hospitals at Paris.

His state of health, in the midst of his laborious professional exertions, requiring occasional relaxation in the country, he fixed upon Auteuil, in the immediate vicinity of Paris, as his place of residence. It was there that he became acquainted with the widow of Helvetius, and ever after cherished for that excellent woman the affection of a son, as she, on her part, fulfilled towards him the duties of the kindest mother. He spent all his leisure hours in her society, and profited by the opportunity her house afforded him of cultivating the acquaintance of the most distinguished literary men of that period. He continued his intercourse with Turgot; was on terms of intimacy with Condillac, Thomas, and D’Alembert; and acquired the friendship of Holbach, Franklin, and Jefferson. During the last visit which Voltaire made to Paris, Cabanis was presented to him by Turgot, and read to him part of his translation of the Iliad, which that acute critic, though old, infirm, and fatigued with his journey, listened to with great interest, and bestowed much commendation on the talents of the author. Cabanis had now, however, long ceased to occupy himself with that work; and, fully engaged with the studies and duties of his profession, had renounced the cultivation of letters. He even bade a formal adieu to poetry in his Serment dun Médecin, which appeared in 1789, and is a free imitation of the Greek of Hippocrates, but is more remarkable as exhibiting the author in the light of a zealous friend to liberty. Political interests were now, indeed, beginning to engross the general attention; and the muses were deserted amidst the contentions of parties, the din of arms, and the various anxieties and passions which were called into play during this eventful period. Cabanis espoused with enthusiasm the cause of the revolution, to which he was attached from principle, and of which the opening prospects were so congenial to his active and ardent mind. But, however he may have shared in the intoxication which seized its early partizans, it is certain that he had no participation in the criminal excesses which followed, and which have left so indelible a stain upon the history of those times.

During the two last years of Mirabeau’s life he was intimately connected with that extraordinary man, who had the singular art of pressing into his service the pens of all his literary friends, whom he engaged to furnish him with their ideas, in writing, on the political topics of the day, that he might afterwards combine them as he chose, and adopt them as his own. Cabanis united himself with this [7:5:764]disinterested association of labourers, and contributed the Travail sur l’Education Publique ; a tract which was found among the papers of Mirabeau at his death, and was edited by the real author soon afterwards in 1791. During the illness which terminated his life, Mirabeau confided himself entirely to the professional skill of Cabanis; and, though repeatedly and strongly urged, as his danger increased, to have further medical assistance, constantly refused to have recourse to any other advice. Of the progress of the malady, and the circumstances attending the death of Mirabeau, Cabanis has drawn up a very detailed narrative, which, whatever proof it may afford of the warmth of his friendship for his patient, is not calculated to impress us with any high idea of his skill in the treatment of an acute inflammatory disease.

Condorcet was another distinguished character with whom Cabanis was on terms of intimacy. The calamitous events of the revolution, and the relentless persecution which the former was suffering from the party which had gained the ascendency, tended only to unite them still more closely in the ties of friendship; and Cabanis exerted every means in his power to avert his impending fate. But all his efforts were unavailing; and he had only the melancholy consolation of preserving the last writings of his unfortunate friend, and of collecting his dying wishes relative to his wife and children. Soon after this event he married Charlotte Grouchy, sister to Madame Condorcet and to General Grouchy, a union which was a great source of happiness to him during the remainder of his life.

After the subversion of the government of the terrorists, Cabanis, on the establishment of central schools, was named professor of Hygiene, in the medical schools of the metropolis. He was chosen member of the National Institute the next year, and on the following was appointed clinical professor. He was afterwards member of the Council of Five Hundred, and then of the Conservative Senate. The dissolution of the Directory was the result of a motion which he made to that effect. But his political career was not of long continuance. He was profoundly affected at the turn which the affairs of his country were taking, so unfavourable to the cause of liberty, and so dispiriting to the friends of humanity; and the latter years of his life were, in consequence, deeply tinctured with melancholy. A foe to tyranny in every shape, he was decidedly hostile to the policy of Bonaparte, and had constantly rejected all his solicitations to accept of a place under his government.

For some years before his death, his health became gradually more impaired, in consequence of the exertions and anxieties he had undergone; and, in the spring of 1807, he had a slight apoplectic attack, from which he soon recovered. He, however, took the warning that was thus given him, and retired from the laborious duties of his profession, spending the greatest part of his time at the chateau of his father-in-law at Moulan, about thirty miles from Paris. Here he again solaced himself with reading his favourite poets, and even had it in contemplation to resume his translation of the Iliad, which had been the first effort of his youthful muse. The rest of his time was devoted to kindness and beneficence, especially towards the poor, who flocked from all parts to consult him on their complaints. Increasing infirmity now made him sensible that his life was drawing near to a close; and he was fond of conversing on the subject of his approaching end, an event which he always contemplated with perfect serenity of mind. A more complete attack of his disorder at length carried him off’ on the 5th of May 1808, when he had attained his fifty-second year. He left a widow and a daughter to lament the loss of one who united to the ornaments of a highly cultivated mind the greatest sensibility and benevolence of heart.

Besides the tracts already mentioned, he was author of several other works. The only one among them which is purely of a literary nature is the Mélanges de Literature Allemande, ou Choix de Traductions de l’Allemande, &c. Paris, 8vo, 1797. It is dedicated to Madame Helvetius, and consists of translations of different works of Meisner, of a drama of Goethe’s entitled Stella, of Gray’s Elegy on a Country Church Yard, and of the Idyl of Bion on the death of Adonis. His work Du Degré de Certitude de la Médecine appeared in the same year; and a second edition was published in 1803, containing a republication of his Observations sur les Hôpitaux, and his Journal de la Maladie et de la Mort de Mirabeau l’aine; together with a short tract on the punishment of the guillotine, in which he combats the opinion of Soemmerring, Oelsuer, and Sue, that sensibility remains for some time after decapitation. This tract had already appeared in the Magazin Encyclopédique, and in the first volume of the Mémoires de la Société Médicale d’Emulation. This new edition also contains his Rapport fait au Conseil des Cinq-cents sur l' Organisation des Ecoles de Médecine; and a long dissertation entitled Quelques Principes et quelques Vues sur les Secours Publiques. In 1799 he published Quelques Considérations sur l’Organisation sociale en general, et particulièrement sur la nouvelle Constitution, 12mo. His principal work, however, is that entitled Des Rapports du Physique et du Morale de l’Homme, 1803, in two volumes 8vo; consisting of twelve essays, the first six of which had been presented to the National Institute, and were inserted in the first two volumes of their Memoirs, in the class of moral and political sciences. This work was reprinted in the following year, with the addition of a copious analytical table of its contents by Μ. Destutt-Tracy, and alphabetical indexes by Μ. Sue. His Coup d' Oeil sur les Revolutions et les Reformesde la Médecine came out in 1803. Of this work we possess an excellent English translation, with notes by Dr Henderson. His only practical work on medicine is the Observations sur les Affections Catarrhales en general, et particulièrement sur celles connues sous le nom de Rhumes de Cerveau, et Rhumes de Poitrine,^ e>, 1807. He wrote many interesting articles in the Magazin Encyclopédique. Several of his speeches to the legislative assembly are given at full length in the Moniteur. (y.)