François Magendie

MAGENDIE, François (François Magendie, 1783–1855), a well-known French physiologist. Born in Bordeaux into the family of a surgeon, upon graduating from the university in Paris he devoted himself to scientific work, organizing a private experimental laboratory; he served as a member of the Academy of Medicine from its foundation (1819) and a member of the Academy of Sciences from 1821. He obtained a chair at the Collège de France very late, at 48 years of age (1831).--Magendie was an ardent supporter of applying the vivisection method to resolve physiological problems; being an excellent operator, he meticulously developed the technique of vivisection. His works, on a par with the experimental works of Johannes Müller, served as the beginning of the so-called experimental trend in physiology, which developed intensively precisely from the end of the second quarter of the 19th century. Magendie gained particular fame after confirming the discovery of Charles Bell, which consists in the fact that the anterior roots of the spinal cord are motor, and the posterior are sensory (see Bell-Magendie law). He discovered the so-called recurrent sensitivity of the anterior roots, and also carried out tremendous work in studying the mechanism of activity of the digestive tract (in particular, he studied in detail the mechanism of the vomiting act). Among Magendie's numerous works, mention should be made of: «Précis élémentaire de physiologie» (4th ed., Paris, 1836); «Leçons sur les phénomènes physiques de la vie» (Paris, 1836–42), "the first book on the physical phenomena of life," in the words of Claude Bernard; «Leçons sur les fonctions et les maladies du système nerveux» (Paris, 1839).--From 1821 to 1831 Magendie edited the «Journal de physiologie expérimentale» (Paris), which united the majority of physiologists of that time.--Magendie is a successor to the physiology created in France by Lavoisier and Laplace. To a large extent under the influence of Laplace, and inspired by the experiments of Lavoisier and Laplace on animal respiration, Magendie set himself the task of elucidating the physicochemical properties of physiological processes. Magendie did a great deal to transform physiology from a descriptive science into an experimental science. This work, begun by him, was further advanced in France by his pupil and direct successor at the Collège de France, Claude Bernard. Magendie's attempts to study the physicochemical processes of individual organs and tissues in the corresponding historical setting were of tremendous importance as a trend that opposed the views of Bichat that dominated at the time, which regarded the vital principle as scattered throughout all the tissues of the body.