He was originally trained in medicine by his father, a sergeant major at a local military hospital.

As a young man he moved to Paris, where he served as gagnant-maîtrise at the Salpêtrière.

In 1764 he was appointed lifetime secretary to the Académie Royale de Chirurgie.

Louis published numerous articles on surgery, including several biographies of surgeons who died in his lifetime.

He also published the surgical aphorisms of Dutch physician Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738).