Jean François Gauthier
(1708-1756)
King's doctor and naturalist (born: La Croix-Avranchin, France, October 6, 1708 Died: Québec, July 10, 1756). Appointed King's doctor in New France, he arrived in Québec in 1742. He assumed responsibility for the medical and scientific chairs at the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1745 (Académie royale des sciences).
In 1747, encouraged by La Galissonière, he orders the fort commanders to gather samples of plants for his study. In 1749, accompanied by Kalm, he gathers plants from the Québec region to Les Éboulements for botanical study. In his honour, Kalm gives the odoriferous plant Wintergreen "Gaulthéria" (gaulthérie). Gauthier sends plants to France each year; his 1749 manuscript contains a list of 134 species, of which 61 were described by Sarrazin, but which he studied in detail, and 73, which were not described by him.
In his work, he favors ligneous plants and four species of pine. He establishes the first meteorological station in Canada where he maintains weather records from 1742 to 1756, all the while sending samples of minerals and stuffed specimens of animals to France. However, botany and medicinal uses of plants were always his great passion.
His treatise on maple sugar (see "Industrie de l`Érable"-Maple industry) is published in the memoir of the Academy of Sciences.
Text by: Bernard Boivin
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