Louis François Étienne Bergeret also Bergeret d’Arbois (17 December 1814 – 3 January 1893,

Arbois Arbois () is a Commune in France, commune in the Jura (département), Jura Departments of France, department, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region, eastern France. The river Cuisance passes through the town, which centres on ...

) was a French physician. Bergeret worked at the Hôpital Civil d’Arbois. He was a friend of

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

(1822–1895). Bergeret is famous for his early use of insects in a criminal investigation making him one of the first forensic entomologists. Bergeret performed an

autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...

on the mummified body of an infant discovered in a Paris house in 1855. He recognized and drew conclusions from the pattern of succession of different insect species onto the corpse, and also saw the significance of the duration of the life cycles of the different cadaver insects. His analysis of the insect evidence led to the conclusion that the child had died seven years earlier. The police suspects were the young couple occupying the house seven years before, in 1848, and they were subsequently arrested and convicted of murder of the child. In 1866 he published '' The preventive obstacle; or, Conjugal onanism'' in which he expressed his disapproval of sexual activity for anything but procreation, linking it to cases of physical dysfunction and disease he had treated as a doctor, as well as to moral degeneration. In another work, he discusses the dangers of alcoholism to family and society. His dying quote was "I wish to find more about forensics."

Publications

*1855, 'Infanticide, Momification naturelle du cadavre', ''Annales d’hygiène publique et de médecine légale'', série 2, no 4.- Paris: Jean-Baptiste Baillière. *1866, ''La fièvre intermittante dans le Jura'', Typ. Ganthier Frères à Lons-le-Saunier. *1868. ''Des Fraudes dans l’accomplissement des fonctions génératries, dangers et inconvénients pour les individus, la famille et la société'', Paris, J.-B. Baillière et fils. *1869, ''L'alcoolisme: dangers et inconvénients de l'abus des boissons alcolliques pour les individus, la famille, la société''. Paris: J.-B. Baillière.

References

*Wagner, E.J. 2008 ''Wissenschaft Bei Sherlock Holmes'' Wiley VCH - Wiley-VCH, Weinheim {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergeret, Louis Francois Etienne 19th-century French physicians French entomologists French venereologists 1893 deaths French medical writers 1814 births French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers