[Excerpts from the eulogy of Jean-Louis Petit presented during the public session of the Royal Academy of Surgery on May 26 1750 by A. Louis].

Jean-Louis Petit (1674-1750) was first enthusiastic about anatomy, received a master's certificate in surgery in Paris in 1700, became a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1715, and was named director of the Royal Academy of Surgery by the king when it was created in 1731. He acquired great notoriety because of his skill and experience, thanks to his case reports of hemorrhage, lacrimal fistula, operation on the frenum, for his treatise on bone diseases and especially for his general treatise on surgical operations on which he worked 12 years and which was finished after his death by F.D. Lesne.