Marie Françoise "Fanny" Bernard (née Martin) (16 September 1819 – 9 October 1901) was the wife of the pioneer in experimental research in physiology, Claude Bernard. She was shocked by his use of vivisection, and created an anti-vivisection society.

Background

Marie Françoise Martin married Claude Bernard on Wednesday 7 May 1845, and it was her dowry from her father, a physician, that allowed him to pursue his studies under

François Magendie __NOTOC__ François Magendie (6 October 1783 – 7 October 1855) was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a ''Magendie sign'', a downward a ...

at the Collège de France in Paris. They had three children—Jeanne-Henriette, Marie-Claude, and a son who died in infancy. Marie Françoise became opposed to her husband's research methods. Magendie, Claude Bernard and his fellow physiologists—men such as

Charles Richet Charles Robert Richet (25 August 1850 – 4 December 1935) was a French physiologist at the Collège de France known for his pioneering work in immunology. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on ...

in France and Michael Foster in England—were strongly criticized for the

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

they carried out on animals, particularly dogs. Anti-vivisectionists infiltrated Magendie's lectures in Paris, where he was dissecting dogs without anaesthetic, allegedly shouting "''Tais-toi, pauvre bête!''" ("Shut up, you poor beast!") while he worked on them. She separated from him in 1870,

''Arthur de Bretagne''

At the age of 19 Claude Bernard wrote a play called ''Arthur de Bretagne'', which was published only after his death. Marie Françoise and her daughters alleged that it contained a preface that defamed them. They are thought to have sued to have the copies of the play destroyed. However, there was a radio production in 1936, and a second edition appeared in 1943.

''Experimental Animals: A Reality Fiction''

In 2016, the American author of

experimental literature Experimental literature is a genre that is, according to Warren Motte in his essa"Experimental Writing, Experimental Reading" "difficult to define with any sort of precision." He says the "writing is often invoked in an "offhand manner" and the ...

Thalia Field published ''Experimental Animals: A Reality Fiction'', a thoroughly-researched novel in which she writes about Claude Bernard and the nineteenth-century

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

movement from the point of view of Marie-Françoise "Fanny" Bernard.

Notes

Animal testing Anti-vivisectionists French activists Animal welfare workers French women activists 1819 births 1901 deaths {{Europe-activist-stub

Background

''Arthur de Bretagne''

''Experimental Animals: A Reality Fiction''

See also

Notes