Tribute To Death

The doctor who attended King Louis XIV of France was obsessed with hygiene, as well as various theories of longevity, which he applied to himself. For example, when he asked himself the question, “Why do fish live to such a great age?” he theorized that it was because “they are never subject to drafts.” Consequently, in order to insulate himself against drafts he spent his days in a sedan chair draped with blankets and lined with rabbits fur. When obliged to go out, he covered himself with a morocco robe and mask, wore six pairs of stockings, and several fur hats. He always kept a bit of garlic in his mouth, incense in his ears and a woody herb sticking out of each nostril. He slept in a kind of brick oven, surrounded by hot water bottles and he ate only sheep’s tongues and the syrup of a certain herb. In the year 1678, he died, having lived to the ripe old age of ninety-four.…