MODERN BIOLOGY 345 



Among the scientists of the MontpeJlier school who disputed the pre- 

 vailing mechanistic theory of life, which was maintained chiefly on the 

 authority of Boerhaave, may be mentioned Theopiiile de Bordeu (1711-76). 

 The son of a doctor living in the south of France, he settled down in practice, 

 after taking his degree, first in his home district and later in Paris. He wrote 

 an account of his views on life-phenomena in a work entitled On the Glands. 

 Contemporary physiologists of the mechanistic school of thought believed 

 that glandular secretion was due simply to the mechanical pressure of adjacent 

 muscles. Through a series of careful experiments and extensive investigations 

 based thereon, Bordeu proves that mechanical compression cannot produce 

 glandular secretion. This is due rather to the direct influence of the nerves 

 leading to the glands. Through this nervous influence the supply of blood 

 to the gland is increased and by means of a purely mechanical arrangement — 

 Bordeu believes that he found openings capable of expanding or closing 

 through the influence of the nerves — the follicles of that gland absorb out 

 of the blood such fluids as are characteristic of the secretion. This individual 

 power of the gland to absorb fluids that are suitable to it Bordeu names 

 "sensation" and he ascribes to each organ in the body a special power of self- 

 operation, a "tact," as he calls it; the stomach absorbs certain substances, 

 and reacts against others by the process of vomiting; the eye has its special 

 reaction against the outside world, and likewise the ear. Life proceeds as 

 the result of co-operation between the individual action of all the organs. 

 The brain and the nervous system control this co-operation; their action is 

 expressed in the alternate contraction and expansion of their mass. Although 

 Bordeu evinces great admiration for Stahl, it is nevertheless with extreme 

 caution that he expresses any opinion on the question of the soul's relation 

 to the body, just as in general he avoids entering into more abstract regions 

 of thought. 



We find, on the other hand, speculations of a markedly natural-philo- 

 sophical character in a somewhat later pupil of the Montpellier school, Paul 

 Joseph Barthez (1734-1806). Hewas first of all a practitioner, then professor 

 at Montpellier, and finally chancellor of its university. Being of a pugnacious 

 and irascible nature, he became involved in many a dispute, especially after 

 he had taken sides with the aristocracy during the Revolution. Having been 

 deprived of his post, he lived for a time as a private individual. He published 

 his theoretical opinions in a work bearing the striking title of Science de 

 Vhomme. By way of introduction hj gives an analysis of causality, which he 

 afterwards examines with special reference to the cause of life. Barthez finds 

 the ultimate cause of life to be inexplicable and considers that neither 

 Boerhaave' s nor Stahl 's theories are satisfactory hypotheses or of any use 

 to medical science; in their place he assumes a special "life-principle" as the 

 foundation for the vital manifestations of all living creatures. In man this 



