168 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 
who was gifted with a powerful memory, velunteered without 
previous notice to take his place. The lecture was a long and 
difficult one on the fractures of the clavicle, but Bichat’s 
abstract was so clear, forceful, and complete that its delivery 
in well-chosen language produced a great sensation both upon 
the instructor and the students. This notable performance 
served to bring 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 himas a son, and when he suddenly 
died in 1795, the care of preparing his works for the printer 
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 was already 
immersed, and by almost superhuman labor completed the 
fourth volume of Desault’s Journal of 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 portrait 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, which were 
open and free.” 
His Phenomenal Industry.—His industry was phenom- 
