Bernard Claude

Bernard, Claude, physiologist, was born in 1813 at St. Julien, in the French department of the Rhone. After studying at Paris he became in 1841 Majendie's assistant at the College de France, and in 1854, having achieved distinction by his investigations and discoveries, he was appointed to the general physiology chair in the Faculty of Sciences and member of the Institute. In 1855 he succeeded Majendie in the chair of experimental physiology in the College de France, which in 1868 was followed by his appointment as professor of general physiology at the Museum. In the same year he succeeded Flourens in the French Academy, and in 1869 became a member of the Senate. Among his discoveries were the function of the pancreatic juice, the saccharine formation in the liver, and the part played by the nervous system in this process. For his experiments he was thrice awarded the grand prize of the Institute, and was the recipient, of many other distinctions. His published writings comprise Recherches sur les Usages du Pancreas, De la Physiologie Generate, now a text-book in France, Lecons sur les Anesthesique et sur Asphyxie, etc. He died at Paris in 1878, and was honoured with a public funeral.