Abstract: Several chapters of the Essais employ a light conversational tone to address a noble lady on the conception of a child and the affection of parents. In the Erreurs populaires of Louis Joubert (1578), a leading physician had already ventured onto similar ground ; in 1625, Louis de Serres, a doctor from Dauphiné, borrows the mantle of Montaigne by adopting a style « de bas alloy et feminin » in his Discours … de la conception, et de la sterilité des femmes.
