ASTRUC, JEAN', a celebrated physician, was born in 1684 at Sauves, in Languedoc. His father, a Protestant clergyman, bestowed great pains upon his early education, after which he studied at the university of Montpellier, where, having commenced the study of medicine, he took his degree as doctor of physic in 1703. In 1706 he lectured at Montpellier as substitute for Professor Chirac. He studied most diligently all medical authors, both ancient and modern, and in 1710 published a treatise on muscular motion, which greatly increased his reputation. In that year he was appointed to the chair of anatomy at Toulouse. In 1717 he was appointed to teach medicine at Montpellier. Subsequently he was appointed successively superintendent of the mineral waters of Languedoc, first physician to the king of Poland, and, in 1731, regius professor of medicine at Paris. Here his lectures on the practice of physic attracted students from other universities, as well as from foreign countries. He prosecuted his studies with unwearied assiduity to an advanced age, and was thus enabled to write many valuable works on medical subjects. He died on the 5th of May 1766, in the 82d year of his age. Of his numerous works, that on which his fame principally rests is the treatise entitled De iliorbis Yenereis libri sex, 1736, 4to. This was afterwards enlarged to 2 vols. 4to; it was translated into French by Jault, 4 vols. 12mo, and has been frequently translated into English. In addition to many other works, principally on midwifery and cognate subjects, he published some treatises not connected with medicine, one with the title of Conjectures star les Memoires originaux qui out servi d Ilfoise pour e'crire la Genese, Bruxelles (Paris), 1753, 12mo ; and two dissertations on the Immateriality, Immortality, and Liberty of the Soul, Paris, 1755. A long analysis of the Conjectures is given in the supplement to Herzog's Real-Encyk. d. Prot. Theol.