MODERN BIOLOGY 377 



Magendie's greatest service to biology, however, is not on the theo- 

 retical side, useful though his criticism of his contemporaries' hypotheti- 

 cal ideas v^as; his most valuable positive contribution was without doubt 

 the experimental technique that he created. In working it out he took 

 advantage of experiences gained from methods of physics and chemistry as 

 well as from those of surgery and internal medicine, thereby originating an 

 experimental procedure that even to this day forms the basis of the method 

 of research in physiology. He employs it in a number of important processes 

 in the higher animal life, especially in connexion with the phenomena of 

 circulation and resorption. To both these studies he successfully applied his 

 mechanical system of thought; to him the circulatory apparatus, as also the 

 respiratory system, was a mechanism, the operation of which should be cal- 

 culable, and indeed was partly calculated by him. With regard to resorption, 

 he took advantage of Dutrochet's then recent discovery of the osmotic 

 processes. Magendie's investigations into the nervous processes, however, 

 brought him the greatest fame; independently of Bell he took up the prob- 

 lem of the roots of the medullary nerve, studying it both experimentally and 

 theoretically, with far greater attention to detail than his predecessor. He 

 actually claimed as his own the discovery of the physiology of the sensory 

 and motor nerve-roots, and if by this is meant thorough investigation into 

 the subject, he is no doubt justified in his claim. Bell, however, appeared 

 once more and maintained his old claims; this led, as usual, to a not very 

 edifying controversy between Magendie and his predecessor. As a matter 

 of fact, the contrast between them, as far as regards their general concep- 

 tions of nature, was as wide as it could possibly be — ■ Bell looking to the 

 glory of God in his scientific results, and Magendie refusing to accept any 

 other explanation of nature than the purely mechanical. In actual fact, both 

 have performed considerable services in the sphere mentioned — Bell in hav- 

 ing been the first to determine the bearing of the problem and to establish 

 the different functions of the two nerve-roots in the medulla, and Magendie 

 in having dealt with the problem experimentally throughout and established 

 the fact in all its details. Bell is said to have been deterred by the painful- 

 ness of the experiment from pursuing it beyond establishing the above- 

 mentioned fact in the case of one live subject; Magendie on the other hand, 

 who had no qualms on that score, carried out the investigation from as 

 many sides as possible. 



Magendie gathered round him several distinguished pupils. Among these 

 may be mentioned Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (i 794-1 867), who continued 

 his master's work in the sphere of nerve-physiology, besides making valu- 

 able contributions to the knowledge of the function of the skin and several 

 other organic systems. Chief among French physiologists, however, must 

 be named Claude Bernard. He was born at Saint-Julien, near the Rhone, in 



