Astruc, JEAN

Astruc, JEAN, physician, born at Sauves, in Languedoc, March 19, 1634, died May 5, 1766. He studied medicine at Montpellier, where he became professor (1717). In 1731 he was appointed professor of Medicine at Paris, whither his lectures attracted students even from foreign countries. As a physician, his treatises on midwifery and kindred subjects were highly valued; but probably his most famous work was published at Brussels (1753) under the title of Conjectures sur les Mémoires originaux, dont il paroît que Moyse s'est servi pour composer le Livre de la Genèse. By his distinction between the Elohist and Jehovahistic sources of the account, he practically founded the school of modern criticism of the Pentateuch.