Marie François Xavier Bichat (; ; 14 November 1771 – 22 July 1802)
was a French
anatomist
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
and
pathologist
Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...
, known as the father of modern
histology
Histology,
also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...
. Although he worked without a
microscope
A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
, Bichat distinguished 21 types of elementary
tissues from which the organs of the human body are composed.
He was also "the first to propose that tissue is a central element in
human anatomy
The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body.
It comprises a he ...
, and he considered
organs as collections of often disparate tissues, rather than as entities in themselves".
Although Bichat was "hardly known outside the French medical world" at the time of his early death, forty years later "his system of histology and
pathological anatomy
Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or Anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination ...
had taken both the French and English medical worlds by storm."
The Bichatian tissue theory was "largely instrumental in the rise to prominence of hospital doctors" as opposed to
empiric therapy
Empiric therapy or empirical therapy is medical treatment or therapy based on experience and, more specifically, therapy begun on the basis of a clinical "educated guess" in the absence of complete or perfect information. Thus it is applied before ...
, as "diseases were now defined in terms of specific
lesion
A lesion is any damage or abnormal change in the tissue of an organism, usually caused by disease or trauma. ''Lesion'' is derived from the Latin "injury". Lesions may occur in plants as well as animals.
Types
There is no designated classifi ...
s in various tissues, and this lent itself to a classification and a list of
diagnoses
Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine "cause and effect". In systems enginee ...
".
Early life and training
Bichat was born in
Thoirette
Thoirette is a former commune in the Jura department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Thoirette-Coisia.Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...
.
His father was Jean-Baptiste Bichat, a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
who had trained in
Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
and was Bichat's first instructor.
His mother was Jeanne-Rose Bichat, his father's wife and cousin. He was the eldest of four children.
He entered the college of
Nantua
Nantua (; Arpitan: ''Nantuat'') is a commune in and subprefecture of the Ain département in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 3,454. The commune of Nantua comprises the glacial Lac de Nantua ...
, and later studied at
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
.
He made rapid progress in
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and the
physical sciences
Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences".
Definition
Phy ...
, but ultimately devoted himself to the study of
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
and
surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
under the guidance of Marc-Antoine Petit (1766–1811), chief surgeon at the
Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...
of Lyon.
At the beginning of September 1793, Bichat was designated to serve as a surgeon with the
Army of the Alps
The Army of the Alps (''Armée des Alpes'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It existed from 1792–1797 and from July to August 1799, and the name was also used on and off until 1939 for France's army on its border with Italy.
1792 ...
in the service of the surgeon Buget at the hospital of
Bourg
Bourg or Le Bourg may refer to:
Places
France Bourg
* Bourg, Aisne, a former commune in France, now part of Bourg-et-Comin
* Bourg, Bas-Rhin, a former commune in Bas-Rhin, now part of Bourg-Bruche
* Bourg, Gironde, also known as Bourg-sur-Gir ...
.
He went home in March 1794,
then moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where he became a pupil of
Pierre-Joseph Desault
Pierre-Joseph Desault (6 February 1738 – 1 June 1795) was a French anatomist and surgeon.
Biography
Pierre-Joseph Desault was born in Vouhenans, Franche-Comté. He was destined for a career in the Church, but his own inclination was towards the ...
at the
Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...
, "who was so strongly impressed with his genius that he took him into his house and treated him as his adopted son."
He took active part in Desault's work, at the same time pursuing his own research in anatomy and physiology.
![Œuvres chirurgicales ou exposé de la doctrine et de la pratique de P](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/%C5%92uvres_chirurgicales_ou_expos%C3%A9_de_la_doctrine_et_de_la_pratique_de_P.-J._Desault_-_1801.jpg)
The sudden death of Desault in 1795 was a severe blow to Bichat.
His first task was to discharge the obligations he owed his benefactor by contributing to the support of his widow and her son and by completing the fourth volume of Desault's ''Journal de Chirurgie'', which was published the following year.
In 1796, he and several other colleagues also formally founded the Société Médicale d'Émulation, which provided an intellectual platform for debating problems in medicine.
Lecturing and research
In 1797, Bichat began a course of anatomical demonstrations, and his success encouraged him to extend the plan of his lectures, and boldly to announce a course of operative
surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
.
At the same time, he was working to reunite and digest in one body the surgical doctrines which Desault had published in various periodical works;
of these he composed ''Œuvres chirurgicales de Desault, ou tableau de sa doctrine, et de sa pratique dans le traitement des maladies externes'' (1798–1799), a work in which, although he professes only to set forth the ideas of another, he develops them "with the clearness of one who is a master of the subject."
![Xavier Bichat - Traité des membranes - Title page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Xavier_Bichat_-_Trait%C3%A9_des_membranes_-_Title_page.jpg)
In 1798, he gave in addition a separate course of physiology.
A dangerous attack of
haemoptysis
Hemoptysis is the coughing up of blood or blood-stained mucus from the bronchi, larynx, trachea, or lungs. In other words, it is the airway bleeding. This can occur with lung cancer, infections such as tuberculosis, bronchitis, or pneumonia, an ...
interrupted his labors for a time; but the danger was no sooner past than he plunged into new engagements with the same ardour as before.
Bichat's next book, ''Traité des membranes'' (''Treatise on Membranes''), included his doctrine of tissue pathology with a distinction of 21 different tissues.
As worded by A. S. Weber,
His next publication was the ''Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort'' (''Physiological Researches upon Life and Death'', 1800), and it was quickly followed by his ''Anatomie générale'' (1801) in four volumes, the work which contains the fruits of his most profound and original researches.
He began another work, under the title ''Anatomie descriptive'' (1801–1803), in which the organs were arranged according to his peculiar classification of their functions but lived to publish only the first two volumes.
Final years and death
![Vue de l'Hôtel-Dieu, prise du Petit Pont - c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Vue_de_l%27H%C3%B4tel-Dieu%2C_prise_du_Petit_Pont_-_c._1830.jpg)
In 1800, Bichat was appointed physician to the Hôtel-Dieu. "He engaged in a series of examinations, with a view to ascertain the changes induced in the various organs by disease, and in less than six months he had opened above six hundred bodies. He was anxious also to determine with more precision than had been attempted before, the effects of remedial agents, and instituted with this view a series of direct experiments which yielded a vast store of valuable material. Towards the end of his life he was also engaged on a new classification of diseases.
"
![Louis Hersent - Mort de Xavier Bichat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Louis_Hersent_-_Mort_de_Xavier_Bichat.jpg)
On 8 July 1802, Bichat fell in a faint while descending a set of stairs at the Hôtel-Dieu.
He had been spending considerable time examining some macerated skin, "and from which, of course, putrid emanations were being sent forth", during which he probably contracted
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
;
"the next day he complained of a violent headache; that night,
leech
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodie ...
es were applied behind his ears; on the 10th, he took an
emetic
Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose.
Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteri ...
; on the 15th, he passed into a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
and became convulsive."
Bichat died on 22 July, aged 30.
Jean-Nicolas Corvisart
Jean-Nicolas Corvisart-Desmarets (15 February 1755 – 18 September 1821) was a French physician.
Born in the village of Dricourt (now in Ardennes), Corvisart studied from 1777 at the Ecole de Médecine in Paris, later qualifying as ''docte ...
wrote to the first consul
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
:
Ten days after this, the French government caused his name, together with that of Desault, to be inscribed on a memorial plaque at the Hôtel-Dieu.
![Tombe Bichat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Tombe_Bichat.jpg)
Bichat was first buried at Sainte-Catherine Cemetery. With the closing of the latter, his remains were transferred to
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...
on 16 November 1845, followed by "a cortège of upwards of two thousand persons" after a funeral service at
Notre-Dame.
Vitalist theory
Bichat is considered to have been a
vitalist
Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...
, though in no way an anti-experimentalist:
According to Russell C. Maulitz, "of the Montpellier vitalists, the clearest influence on Bichat was probably
Théophile de Bordeu (1722–1776), whose widely disseminated writings on the vitalistic interpretation of life fell early into Bichat's hands."
![Xavier Bichat - Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort - Title page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Xavier_Bichat_-_Recherches_physiologiques_sur_la_vie_et_la_mort_-_Title_page.jpg)
In his ''Physiological Researches upon Life and Death'' (1800), Bichat defined ''life'' as "the totality of those set of functions which resist death",
adding:
Bichat thought that animals exhibited vital properties which could not be explained through physics or chemistry.
In his ''Physiological Researches'', he considered life to be separable into two parts: the organic life (""; also sometimes called the vegetative system
) and the animal life ("", or animal system
). The organic life was "the life of the heart, intestines, and the other inner organs."
As worded by Stanley Finger, "Bichat theorized that this life was regulated through the ''système des ganglions'' (the ganglionic nervous system), a collection of small independent 'brains' in the chest cavity."
In contrast, animal life "involved symmetrical, harmonious organs, such as the eyes, ears, and limbs. It included habit and memory, and was ruled by the wit and the intellect. This was the function of the brain itself, but it could not exist without the heart, the center of the organic life."
According to A. S. Weber,
Legacy
![Title page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Title_page_%22Anatomie_Generale_Appliquee%22%2C_1801_Wellcome_L0015081.jpg)
Bichat's main contribution to medicine and physiology was his perception that the diverse body of organs contain particular tissues or ''membranes'', and he described 21 such membranes, including connective, muscle, and nerve tissue.
As he explained in ''Anatomie générale'',
Bichat did not use a microscope because he distrusted it; therefore his analyses did not include any acknowledgement of cellular structure.
Nonetheless, he formed an important bridge between the ''organ pathology'' of
Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Giovanni Battista Morgagni (25 February 1682 – 6 December 1771) was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Prof ...
and the ''cell pathology'' of
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (; or ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founder ...
. Bichat "recognized
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
as a localized condition that began in specific tissues."
Michel Foucault
Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
regarded Bichat as the chief architect in developing the understanding of the human body as the origin of illness, redefining both conceptions of the body and disease. Bichat's figure was of great importance to
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
, who wrote of the ''Recherches physiologiques'' as "one of the most profoundly conceived works in the whole of French literature."
Honours
![Statue of Xavier Bichat in Paris (36454509682)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Statue_of_Xavier_Bichat_in_Paris_%2836454509682%29.jpg)
A large bronze statue of Bichat by
David d'Angers
Pierre-Jean David (12 March 1788 – 4 January 1856) was a French sculptor, medalist and active freemason.Initiated in ""Le Père de famille"" Lodge in Angers He adopted the name David d'Angers, following his entry into the studio of the painter ...
was erected in 1857 in the ''cour d'honneur'' of the
École de Chirurgie
The École de Chirurgie ("School of Surgery") is a historic building located at 10–12 rue de l'École de Médecine in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Today it is the headquarters of the Paris Descartes University.
Background
In the 18th centu ...
in Paris, with the support of members of the Medical Congress of France which was held in 1845. Bichat is also represented on the
Panthéon
The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...
's pediment,
of which the bas-relief is D'Angers' work as well. The name of Bichat is one of the
72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. His name was given to the
Bichat–Claude Bernard Hospital.
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
enthusiastically recounted Bichat's career in her 1872 novel ''
Middlemarch
''Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life'' is a novel by the English author Mary Anne Evans, who wrote as George Eliot. It first appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midland town, ...
''. In ''
Madame Bovary
''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by France, French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities ...
'' (1856),
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
, himself the son of a prominent surgeon, wrote of a physician character who "belonged to the great school of surgery that sprang up around Bichat, to that generation, now extinct, of philosopher-practitioners who, cherishing their art with fanatical passion, exercised it with exaltation and sagacity."
Gallery
David d'Angers - Fronton du Panthéon - Bichat.jpg, Relief of Bichat on the pediment of the Panthéon
The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...
Statue Bichat Promenade Bastion Bourg Bresse 21.jpg, Statue by D'Angers in Bourg-en-Bresse
Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Ain Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ...
Portrait of Marie Francois Xavier Bichat (1771-1802) Wellcome M0011378.jpg, Portrait by Choquet
Marie François Xavier Bichat (1906) - Veloso Salgado.png, Detail from Veloso Salgado
José Maria Veloso Salgado (2 April 1864 22 July 1945) was a Galicia (Spain), Galician-born Portugal, Portuguese artist. He is regarded as one of the country's foremost masters of Realism (art movement), Naturalism with many distinguished works in ...
's ''Medicine Through the Ages'', NOVA University Lisbon
NOVA University Lisbon ( pt, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, ), or just NOVA, is a Portuguese public university whose rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the newest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital ...
Zaragoza - Antigua Facultad de Medicina - Medallón - Bichat.jpg, Bust at the University of Zaragoza
The University of Zaragoza, sometimes referred to as Saragossa University () is a public university with teaching campuses and research centres spread over the three provinces of Aragon, Spain. Founded in 1542, it is one of the oldest universiti ...
College of Medicine
Notes
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Some places and memories related to Xavier Bichat''Physiological Researches upon Life and Death'' by Xavier Bichat(1809)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bichat, Xavier
1771 births
1802 deaths
People from Jura (department)
French physiologists
French anatomists
French pathologists
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
18th-century French writers
18th-century French male writers
19th-century French writers
Vitalists