Jean François Fernel ( Latinized as Ioannes Fernelius; 1497 – 26 April 1558) was a French physician who introduced the term " physiology" to describe the study of the body's function. He was the first person to describe the spinal canal. The lunar crater Fernelius is named after him. Fernel suggested that taste buds are sensitive to fat, an idea which research in the early 21st century proved to be correct.

Life

He was born in Montdidier and, after receiving his early education at Clermont, he entered the College of Sainte-Barbe, Paris. At first he devoted himself to mathematical and astronomical studies; but from 1534 he gave himself up entirely to medicine, in which he graduated in 1530. His general erudition, and the skill and success with which he sought to revive the study of the old Greek physicians, gained him a reputation, and ultimately the office of physician to the court.

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...

, wife of King Henry II of France, sought his advice regarding their difficulty in conceiving a child. He practiced with success, and at his death at Paris in 1558 left him a large fortune. His remains were entombed at the Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie.

Work

Astronomy and geodesy

Fernel's ''Cosmotheoria'' (1528) records a determination ( arc measurement) of a degree of

arc of the meridian In geodesy and navigation, a meridian arc is the curve between two points on the Earth's surface having the same longitude. The term may refer either to a segment of the meridian, or to its length. The purpose of measuring meridian arcs is to ...

, which he made by counting the revolutions of his carriage wheels on a journey between Paris and Amiens. Using his measurements he calculated the

circumference of the earth Earth's circumference is the distance around Earth. Measured around the Equator, it is . Measured around the poles, the circumference is . Measurement of Earth's circumference has been important to navigation since ancient times. The first kno ...

to within one percent of the correct value. He computated a degree of a

meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

would have been long 56,746 toises instead of the 57,024 that were subsequently measured. His works on mathematical and astronomical subjects also include ''Monalosphaerium, sive astrolabii genus, generalis horarii structura et usus'' (1526), and ''De proportionibus'' (1528).

Physiology

As a physician and professor of medicine at the Collège de Coenouailles for over 20 years, Fernel is credited with the neologism, '' physiology'', a discipline which became one of the central topics of education and research in the field of medicine. His early understanding of physiology, especially of the brain, was represented by three statements commonly quoted in physiological history: *“Anatomy is to physiology as geography is to history; it describes the theatre of events.” *The brain was “the seat of the mind and its parts; the mind being endowed with numerous faculties, man has rightly been provided with a larger accommodation for it than the other creature possess, and this accommodation is associated with more instruments.” *“The brain is the citadel and dwelling of the human mind, the abode of thoughts and of the reason, the wellspring and origin of movement and of every sense; it occupies the highest point of the body, looking upwards, nearest to heaven.” His medical works included ''De naturali parte medicinae'' (1542), ''De vacuandi ratione'' (1545), ''De abditis rerum causis'' (1548) which included a chapter on angelology and demonology. What has been called his "crowning work", ''Universa Medicina'', comprises three parts: the ''Physiologia'' (developed from the ''De naturali parte''), the ''Pathologia'', and the ''Therapeutice''.

References

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