Nicolas de Blégny
# Nicolas de Blégny

Nicolas de Blégny (1652 – 1722) was a French essayist, historian and barber surgeon. He was appointed surgeon of Queen Maria Theresa of Spain in 1678, then physician of King Louis XIV in 1682.

He published many works, which earned him some violent reviews, on various medical subjects and on coffee, tea and chocolate, such as Le bon usage du thé, du caffé et du chocolat pour la preservation & pour la guerison des maladies in 1662.

He was also the founder of the first medical journal, the Nouvelles découvertes sur toutes les parties de la médecine, as early as 1679, though to begin with it simply reported the transactions of his society, the Academy of Recent Discoveries in Medicine. They were published after three years as a collection, Zodiacus Medico-Gallicus. He also published Le livre commode des adresses de Paris pour 1692 under the pseudonym Abraham du Pradel.

He was arrested in 1693 for some wrongdoing and died in disgrace in 1722 in Avignon. He was the brother of Étienne de Blégny [fr], a rather famous master writer [fr].

