Prosper Lucas (4 November 1808,

Saint-Brieuc Saint-Brieuc (, Breton: ''Sant-Brieg'' , Gallo: ''Saent-Berioec'') is a city in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. History Saint-Brieuc is named after a Welsh monk Brioc, who Christianised the region in the 6th c ...

– 2 April 1885,

Mennecy Mennecy () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. Geography Mennecy is 33 kilometers south east of Paris-Notre-Dame, point zero from roads of France, 8 kilometers south of Évry, 6 kilometers south west of ...

)Psychiatrie Histoire
(biography) was a French medical doctor and a specialist in the study of

heredity Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

. Regarding the topic of biological inheritance, Lucas published hi
''"Traité philosophique et physiologique de l'hérédité naturelle"''
("Philosophical and physiological treatise on natural heredity") in two volumes in 1847 and 1850, which

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

described in ''

The Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

'' (1859) as "the fullest and the best on this subject". The full title of Lucas' treatise was ''Traité philosophique et physiologique de l'hérédité naturelle dans les états de santé et de maladie du système nerveux, avec l'application méthodique des lois de la procréation au traitement général des affections dont elle est le principe. Ouvrage où la question est considérée dans ses rapports avec les lois primordiales, les théories de la génération, les causes déterminantes de la sexualité, les modifications acquises de la nature originelle des êtres, et les diverses formes de névropathie et d'aliénation mentale'' ("Philosophical and physiological treatise of natural inheritance in the states of health and disease of the nervous system, with the methodical application of the laws of procreation to the general treatment of the affections of which it is the principle. Work where the question is considered in its relation to the primordial laws, theories of generation, the determining causes of sexuality, the acquired modifications of the original nature of beings, and the various forms of neuropathy and insanity"). Prosper Lucas wrote his thesis and presented it on 28 August 1833, at the

Faculté de Médecine de Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

: ''"De l'imitation contagieuse ou de la propagation sympathique des névroses et des mouvements"''.Gallica
– De l'imitation contagieuse In 1864, he replaced Louis-Victor Marcé as physician for the insane at the Bicêtre, followed by an appointment as chief physician of the women's division at St. Anne asylum in Paris (1867). In 1882, he became medical director of the lunatic asylum in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

. He was the brother of entomologist

Pierre-Hippolyte Lucas Pierre-Hippolyte Lucas (17 January 1814 – 5 July 1899) was a French entomologist. Lucas was an assistant- naturalist at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. From 1839 to 1842 he studied fauna as part of the scientific commission on the ...

(1814–1899).

References

External links

NCBI
Darwin and inheritance: the influence of Prosper Lucas.

1805 births 1885 deaths People from Saint-Brieuc Scientists from Brittany 19th-century French physicians {{France-scientist-stub