PIERRE PERRAULT: THE MAN AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO MODERN HYDROLOGY

ABSTRACT: Pierre Perrault, member of a bourgeois provincial family whose roots were in the Touraine region of France, grew up in Paris. One of six illustrious Brothers, all characterized by brilliance and diversity, he was educated as a lawyer but turned to finance and rose to a high position under King Louis XIV. Owing to political naivete and financial imprudence, he fell into disgrace and went bankrupt. He then became an amateur scientist and wrote a book on the origin of springs. This book broke almost wholly with the traditional authoritarianism of 2, 000 years'standing, and set hydrology on the modern path of observation and direct experiment, He developed the concept of the hydrological cycle, correctly accounting for the disposition of rainfall by evaporation, transpiration, ground‐water recharge and runoff. Some of his ideas about specific processes were erroneous, but where he was wrong his errors were logically based. Much of his contribution to the foundation of scientific hydrology has been overlooked or distorted by historians and hydrologists alike. Copyright © 1974, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved