SKETCH OF F. A. VULPIAN. 263 



tern ; was admitted to tlie Medical Faculty, Paris, in 18G0, with a 

 thesis upon secondary pneumonias, and was made one of the physi- 

 cians at the Salpetriere ; was appointed, in 1867, Professor of Path- 

 ological Anatomy ; in 1872 was transferred to the chair of Com- 

 parative and Experimental Pathology; and in December, 1885, 

 became Dean of the Medical Faculty. As professor he made it a 

 point to perform new experiments in his courses every year. In 

 fact, says Dr. Richet, all his lectures were marked by ingenious 

 views, novel experiments, and important bibliographical data, 

 to such an extent that they could be published as they were, 

 almost without modification ; and they constituted excellent 

 monographs. 



The anatomy and physiology of the nervous system was his 

 favorite field of research. Next to Claude Bernard, says one of 

 his biographers, he studied with the most particular care, in the 

 minutest details, the nature and functions of the vaso-motor 

 nerves, and the laws of their contractions and dilatations, the gen- 

 eral effect of which on the mechanism of the functions is so 

 marked. His lectures on these organs, with those upon the action 

 of toxic substances and medicines, and upon the diseases and 

 physiology of the nervous system, are regarded by Dr. Richet as 

 works of the highest order, which gave definite shape to our 

 knowledge on the most important points, and as containing an 

 " incredible " number of precise facts that have become indis- 

 pensable to the practitioner. Among these labors, those upon the 

 action of curare, chloral, and strychnine have become classical. 

 The localizations of the functions of the different parts of the 

 cerebro-spinal apparatus, and the effects of alkaloids on these 

 parts, occupied him for a considerable time. He was an eminent 

 physician as well as a skillful physiologist ; and in this capacity 

 was called upon to attend, during his last illness, the Comte de 

 Chambord, whose disease baffled the skill of the doctors. 



Dr. Charcot, in his funeral eulogy of Vulpian, said that " he 

 might be characterized in a single word — as a man of duty. He 

 was never known to retreat from a task which he had engaged to 

 perform. As soon as he felt his strength declining, he resigned 

 the much-coveted post of physician at the Hotel-Dieu, five years 

 before reaching the limit of age, and at the same time gave up 

 the civil practice which he had carried on for several years with 

 great success as consulting physician. This was because he wished 

 to employ all of his time in the service of the Academy, and we 

 all know how he discharged his duty in this relation. Viilpian 

 was more than this : he was a man of great and good heart ; a man 

 ready to sacrifice everything for his family ; a master adored by 

 his pupils ; a sure and devoted friend ; and I, who have the sad 

 honor of being your speaker, can not recollect without strong 



