Nestor Louis François Gréhant (2 April 1838 in

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...

– 26 March 1910) was a French

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

. In 1864 he received his medical doctorate in Paris, where he later earned a doctorate in natural sciences (1870). He served as a préparateur to

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term ''milieu intérieur'' and the associated c ...

at the faculty of sciences in Paris, and subsequently became director of the laboratory of general physiology at the

École pratique des Hautes Études École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. In Paris, he also served as a professor of physiology at the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle. In 1905 he became a member of the

Académie de médecine An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

.Gréhant Nestor
CLub de l'Histoire de l'Anesthésie et de la Réanimation (CHAR) He is best remembered for his studies of blood and

blood circulation In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart an ...

(measurement of

cardiac output In cardiac physiology, cardiac output (CO), also known as heart output and often denoted by the symbols Q, \dot Q, or \dot Q_ , edited by Catherine E. Williamson, Phillip Bennett is the volumetric flow rate of the heart's pumping output: tha ...

in animals) and

respiration Respiration may refer to: Biology * Cellular respiration, the process in which nutrients are converted into useful energy in a cell ** Anaerobic respiration, cellular respiration without oxygen ** Maintenance respiration, the amount of cellul ...

. He also made contributions in his research of the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...

, of muscle activity,

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...

anaesthesia Anesthesia (American English) or anaesthesia (British English) is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prev ...

and experimental

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

. He developed a number of devices that he used in research, including a ''grisoumètre'' ( firedamp detector) that was still in use in

coal mines Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

up until 1950.

Selected works

* ''Recherches physiques sur la respiration de l'homme'', 1864 – Physical research on respiration in humans. * ''Manuel de physique médicale'', 1869 – Manual of medical physiology. * ''Absorption de l'oxyde de carbone par l'organisme vivant'', 1879 – Absorption of

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...

by the living organism. * ''Recherches sur la respiration et sur la fermentation de la levure de grains'' (with Charles-Eugène Quinquaud) – Research on respiration and fermentation of grains of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

. * ''Les poisons de l'air, l'acide carbonique et l'oxyde de carbone'', 1890 – Poisons of the air,

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

and carbon monoxide. * ''Les gaz du sang'', 1894 – Blood gases. * ''Sur l'emploi du grisoumètre dans les recherches physiologiques'', 1894 – On the use of a methanometer in physiological research. * ''Oxyde de carbone, alcool éthylique et grisou'', 1903 – Carbon monoxide,

ethyl alcohol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the pseudoelement symbol ...

and

firedamp Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and, when they are penetrated, the ...

. * ''Hygiène expérimentale: l'oxyde de carbone'', 1903 – Experimental hygiene; carbon monoxide. * ''Mesure de l'activité physiologique des reins par le dosage de l'urée dans le sang et dans l'urine'', 1904 – Measurement of the physiological activity of the

kidneys In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and right in the retro ...

by the determination of

urea Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest am ...

in the blood and urine. * ''Rapport sur l'ankylostomiase, le grisou, l'oxyde de carbone'', 1909 – Report on

hookworm Hookworms are Gastrointestinal tract, intestinal, Hematophagy, blood-feeding, parasitic Nematode, roundworms that cause types of infection known as helminthiases. Hookworm infection is found in many parts of the world, and is common in areas with ...

, mine gases, carbon monoxide.IDREF.fr
bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grehant, Nestor 1838 births 1910 deaths People from Laon Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études French physiologists Hygienists