title: [Imaginary chronicle of Louis XIV's ailments and contemporary illnesses].
abstract: Based on contemporary medical journals, the author examines the numerous ailments that afflicted Louis XIV and underlines the impoverishment of the medical art at a time when physicians' power was sovereign and when treatments were as bizarre as they were painful. This historical journey also serves as a pretext to examine current developments in the field of microsurgery, which can cure health disorders that were considered inaccessible to anatomical and functional amelioration.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Morphologie Expérimentale, Université catholique de Louvain, Bruxelles.
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lengelé
mesh_terms: D005197:Famous Persons; D005602:France; D049670:History, 17th Century; D010151:Paintings