i68 BIOLOGY AXD ITS MAKERS 



who was gifted v;iih a po\\crful memory, volunteered without 

 previous notice to take his place. The lecture was a long and 

 difficult one on llie fractures of the clavicle, but Bichat's 

 abstract was so clear, forceful, and comj)lete that its delivery 

 in well-chosen language produced a great sensation both upon 

 the instructor and the students. This notable performance 

 served to brinij him directly to the attention of Desault, who 

 invited him to become his assistant and to live in his family. 

 The association of Bichat with the great surgeon was most 

 happy. Desault treated him as a son, and when he suddenly 

 died in 1795, the care of preparing his works for the ])rinter 

 was left to Bichat. 



The fidelity with which Bichat executed this trust was 

 characteristic of his noble nature. He laid aside his own 

 personal interests, and his researches in which he w^as already 

 immersed, and by almost superhuman labor completed the 

 fourth volume of Desault 's Journal oj Surgery and at the 

 same time collected and published his scattered papers. To 

 these he added observations of his own, making alterations 

 to bring the work up to the highest plane. Thus he paid 

 the debt of gratitude which he felt he owed to Desault for 

 his friendship and assistance. 



In 1797 he was appointed professor of anatomy, at the 

 age of twenty-six, and from then to the end of his life, in 1801, 

 he continued in his career of remarkable industry. 



The jjortrait of this very attractive man is shown in 

 Fig. 49. His face shows strong intellectuality. He is de- 

 scribed as of " middling stature, with an agreeable face lighted 

 by piercing and expressive eyes." He was much beloved by 

 his students and associates, being "in all relations of life 

 most amiable, a stranger to envy or other hateful passions, 

 modest in demeanor and lively in his manners, w^hich were 

 open and free." 



His Phenomenal Industry.— His industry was phenom- 



