GAULTIER 430 GAULTIER Gault!er, Jean Fran;ois (1708-1756) Gaultier was a King's Physician of Quebec, after whom was named the checkerberry plant, Gauliheria procumbens. Botanists, Asa Gray among them, have mistaken the identity of our physician, a friend of the Swedish naturalist Kalm, when the latter visited Quebec in 1749, assigning the sponsorial honor to Hugues Gaul- tier, a Parisian surgeon, and surgical and bo- tanical writer, who took his medical degree at Montpellier in 1763 and died in France in 1778. The orthography of the name Gaultier has caused botanists much discussion, but they agree that the name Gauliheria should stand as the proper spelling, in whatever way the original name may have been written. Jean Frangois Gaultier (also Gautier or Gauthier) was the son of Rene Gautier, of Lupenin, and of Frangoise Colin, of La Croix, diocese of Avranche, Normandy. He was born in 1708, for his burial certificate in 1756 gave his age as 48 years. We learn that Gaultier on his arrival in Quebec from France attended law lectures given by the procureur general Verrier, which were begun in 1733 (Roy. Hist, du Notar, au Canada, vol. i, p. 384). In 1740 Verrier. writing to the minister of Marine, mentions Sieur Gaultier, physician, as one of his pupils and as exciting the emulation of the others by his zeal, he "giving to his law studies as milch time as he could spare from his professional duties." In 1741 Gaultier was made King's Physician for Canada. Then he sailed to France in the vessel Le Rubis, returning in 1742, after he had walked the hospitals of Paris. According to the early records of Quebec, Gaultier became a member of the Superior Council in 1744 and an assessor, first taking his seat in the following year. In the year 1745 the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris made him a correspondent of M. du Hamel, one of its members, and he soon sent over a collection of specimens having to do with natural history which was placed in the King's gardens; again in 1749 a collection of dif- ferent sorts of seeds met with a similar disposition. Gaultier followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, Michel S. Sarrazin (q. v.), in being Royal Physician to the Province, in his mem- bership in the Supreme Council, in becoming a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences and in his researches in natural his- tory. In 1742 he began a journal, at the re- quest of M. du Hamel, containing records of daily temperatures, state of the weather, direc- tion of the wind and descriptions of animal and plant life. The journal was sent to M. du Hamel, who read extracts to the Academy. In the history of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris for the year 1744, page 135, is to be found a memoir by M. Guettard, com- paring Switzerland with Canada. In this the writings of Gaultier on the minerals and mines of the country are cited frequently, especially those on a lead mine at Baie-St. Paul, for which Gaultier received a gratification of 400 pounds from the president of the Navy Board in 1750. Jean Frangois Gaultier married Marie Anne Tarieu of Lanaudiere, March 12, 1752. She was described as being about 44 years old, daughter of Pierre Thomas Tarieu, Sieur de la Perade, lieutenant in the army. Gaultier demonstrated to the Academy the superiority of the Canadian tea berry to that found in France. He said it made an excellent aromatic beverage without sharp taste or bit- terness, and having diuretic properties espe- cially valuable for people who lead a sedentary life and subject to stone. In 1748-49 the Swedish naturalist, Peter Kalm, visited New England and Canada. At Quebec he met Gaultier, who, at the command of the Marquis de la Galissonniere, edited Kalm's list and description of plants of Can- ada, the Marquis himself correcting and an- notating it with his own hand. Gaultier was named by the Governor to accompany Kalm. They visited the Hotel Dieu August 8, 1749, two days after Kalm's arrival and the latter refers to his guide as "a man of great learning in physics and botany and now the physician to the convent" (Voyage de Kalm, in Mem. • Soc. Hist, de Montreal, Se livr., 1881, p. 101). Kalm copied into his account of his voyage Gautlier's botanico-meteorologic observations during the year 1745. Kalm is said to have given the name Gaultheria procumbens to the Canadian tea- berry, in honor of his friend. In the year 1753 Gaultier presented a paper on the su'd- ject of maple sugar to the Academy, one of the eight papers that were thought worthy of printing and now to be found in the Trans- actions. Gaultier died in 1756, probably a victim of an epidemic introduced to Quebec by the frigate Leopard of the squadron that brought over Montcalm. His funeral at the Church of Notre Dame de Quebec, July 11, 1756, was largely attended. His widow lived until 1776, when she died in Quebec at the age of 68. Michael Joseph Ahern, George Ahern. Bull. Med., Quebec, Oct., 1916. Ibid., Sept., 1916, 44. Ibid, Feb., 1917, 257, 258.
