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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 and inward rotation of the
eye due to a lesion in the
cerebellum
The cerebellum (: cerebella or cerebellums; Latin for 'little brain') is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as it or eve ...
. Magendie was a faculty at the
College of France, holding the Chair of Medicine from 1830 to 1855 (he was succeeded by
Claude Bernard, who worked previously as his assistant).
In 1816 he published ''Précis élementaire de Physiologie'' which described an experiment first illustrating the concept of
empty calories:
:I took a dog of three years old, fat, and in good health, and put it to feed upon sugar alone...It expired the 32nd day of the experiment.
His most important contribution to science was also his most disputed. Contemporaneous to Sir
Charles Bell, Magendie conducted a number of experiments on the nervous system, in particular verifying the differentiation between sensory and motor nerves in the spinal cord, the so-called
Bell–Magendie law. This led to an intense rivalry, with the British claiming that Bell published his discoveries first and that Magendie stole his experiments. The intensity of this scientific rivalry perhaps can only be compared to that between
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
and
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath who was active as a physicist ("natural philosopher"), astronomer, geologist, meteorologist, and architect. He is credited as one of the first scientists to investigate living ...
.
Magendie was also a notorious
vivisector, shocking even many of his contemporaries with the live dissections that he performed at public lectures in physiology.
Richard Martin, an Irish
MP, in introducing his famous bill banning animal cruelty in the United Kingdom, described Magendie's public dissection of a
greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets.
Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...
, in which the beast was nailed down ear and paw, half the nerves of its face dissected then left overnight for further dissection, calling Magendie a "disgrace to Society." There was a belief among British physicians, even those who defended animal experimentation, that Magendie purposely subjected his experimental animals to needless torture. A
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
once visited him, questioning him about vivisection; according to
Anne Fagot-Largeault's inaugural lesson at the College of France, he responded with much patience, argumenting the reasons of animal experimentation.
[ Anne Fagot-Largeau']
inaugural lesson
at the College of France Besides drawing sharp criticism from contemporaries in both Britain and France, Magendie's methods were later criticized by, among others,
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
and
Thomas Henry Huxley.
Colin White credits to Magendie the earliest version of the phrase "
Lies, damned lies, and statistics". While arguing against using
blood-letting to treat
fever
Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with Human body temperature, body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, s ...
, and confronted with statistical numbers he believed to be manufactured, Magendie stated: "Thus the alteration of the truth which is already manifesting itself in the progressive form of lying and perjury, offers us, in the
superlative
The degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs are the various forms taken by adjectives and adverbs when used to compare two entities (comparative degree), three or more entities (superlative degree), or when not comparing entities (positi ...
, the statistics."
Works
* ''Vorschriften für die Bereitung und Anwendung einiger neuen Arzneimittel als der Krähenaugen, des Morphins, der Blausäure ... der Jodine u. m. a. : a. d. Franz'' . Leop. Voß, Leipzig 182
Digital edition/ 182
Digital edition/ 183
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
* ''Formulary for the preparation and mode of employing several new remedies'' . (2 volumes) Underwood, London 1824
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
* ''A Formulary for the Preparation and medical : administration of certain new Remedies'' / François Magendie. Transl. from the French of M. Magendie, with Annotations and additional Articles by James Manby Gully . Churchill, London 1835.
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
Footnotes
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References
Biography from the French Ministry of Culture*
Leffingwell, Albert.
An Ethical Problem''
*''Gray's Psychology''
Short biography and bibliographyin the Virtual Laboratory of the
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magendie, Francois
1783 births
1855 deaths
Academic staff of the Collège de France
French physiologists
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences