François Magendie

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Magendie in 1822

François Magendie ( frɑ̃ˈswa maʒɑ̃ˈdi ) (born October 6, 1783 in Bordeaux , † October 7, 1855 in Sannois ( Val d'Oise ) near Paris ) was a French physician , anatomist and physiologist . He belonged to the École de Paris and is considered one of the pioneers of modern drug therapy .

Life

François Magendie was the son of Marie Nicole de Perey and Antoine Magendie († 1813), a politically active surgeon . According to Rousseau's ideas, he grew up with his younger brother Jean-Jacques Magendie in complete freedom, initially in Bordeaux. In 1791 the Magendie family moved to Paris. Marie Nicole de Perey died of an acute illness in 1792 when both brothers were young. Her father Antoine remarried. François attended elementary school, École élémentaire , where he made rapid progress. In 1799, when he was 16, he was admitted to the École de santé . In 1803 he was accepted as a medical student at the Hôpital Saint-Louis . As a student at the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris under the surgeon and anatomist Alexis de Boyer (1757–1833), a friend of his father, he worked intensively on anatomy and autopsy techniques. In 1807 he became an official instructor at the École de médecine , where he taught anatomy and physiology. In the same year he becomes assistant for anatomy and physiology at the École de médecine .

On March 24, 1808 he received his doctorate as Docteur en médecine . He defended the following topic: Essai sur les usages du voile de palais avec quelques propositions sur la fracture du cartilage des côtes . In 1811 he was named a demonstrator for anatomy at the Faculté de Médecine in Paris. He did this teaching there for three years. In addition to anatomy, he also teaches physiology and surgery. He was a skilled surgeon and performed his operations at the École Pratique . Magendie was known to display rude and impolite behavior. This led to conflicts with other colleagues, such as François Chaussier (1746–1828), a professor of anatomy. Furthermore, the famous professor of surgery Guillaume Dupuytren (1777-1835) saw Magendie as a dangerous rival and took a public position against him.

In 1813 Magendie resigned from his position as teacher of anatomy at the faculty and began to work in a private practice. Nevertheless, he continued to teach physiology in private. In 1818, after intense competition among the candidates, he was appointed to the Bureau Central des Hôpitaux Parisiens . In June 1821 he became editor of the first editions of the Journal de Physiologie expérimentale , later renamed Journal de Physiologie et pathologique expérimentale . It was the first such publication in France. During a trip to England in 1824, where he was a guest of William Hyde Wollaston , he gave several public demonstrations of his method of experimentally ligating the cranial nerves of live dogs. This also led to antivisectionist protests there. From 1826 he practiced as a doctor at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière .

In 1830 he married the young widow Henriette Bastienne de Puisaye and in this way became the owner of a property in Sannois , a commune in the Seine-et-Oise department , not far from Versailles . Henriette Bastienne de Puisaye was previously married to Nicolas-Théodore Audinot-d'Aussy (1777–1826), a theater director.

François Magendie

In 1831 he became professor of medicine and in 1836 professor of physiology and general pathology at the Collège de France in Paris. In 1821 he became a member and in 1837 President of the Paris Academy of Sciences . One of his most important students was the physiologist Claude Bernard . In his Lectures on Blood, published in 1839 with Joseph G. Funel, he writes:

“Un médecin qui n'a pas appelé à son aide la chimie, la physique, qui ne s'est pas livré à l'art difficile des expériences sur les animaux, etc. - et beaucoup sont dans ce cas - ce médecin, dis -je, ne voit souvent dans une réunion de malades que des gens plus ou moins souffrants, moribonds, convalescent. "

“A doctor who never uses chemistry and physics to help, who does not know the difficult [medical] art with animal experiments etc. - and this is the case for many - this doctor, I say, often only looks at a number of sick people more or less suffering, dying or convalescent. "

- François Magendie : Lecons Sur Le Sang (1839)

Scientific work

Magendie's concern was that the general ideas about the phenomena of living bodies, that is, most physiological facts, should be tested by experiments . He is one of the most important researchers in the field of experimental physiology:

“En physiologie comme dans toutes les sciences physiques il ne faut point chercher à devancer l'expérience. Ne serait-ce que dans l'intérêt de votre amour-propre, vous ferez toujours bien d'appuyer vos assertions sur des preuves expérimentales; sans quoi votre savoir restera dans une sorte d'état provisoire, jusqu'au moment où il aura reçu la sanction de l'expérience. "

“In physiology, as in all other physical sciences, one must not exceed the limits of what is observable. If it weren't already in your particular interest, you would do well to base all of your claims on experimental evidence. Without it, your knowledge would only remain in a kind of provisional state, until the point in time when it is confirmed by observation. "

- François Magendie : F. Magendie (1841), volume 2, p. 5.

Part of his scientific thinking arose from dealing with the vitalistic positions around Xavier Bichat (1771–1802). In his experiments and conclusions he worked on the basis of methodological reductionism . For him, physics and chemistry were “real”, experimental sciences. In his view, physiology must be reconstituted, exclusively with the help of experiments based on natural science.

Pharmacological

Magendie introduced experimental methods to pharmacology , physiology, and pathology . He spoke out against the traditional medical systems. His scientific findings should be based solely on observations in animal experiments, without any interpretation. He was the founder of animal physiology in France and an experimental and scientific-based medicine and also carried out numerous vivisection experiments. In his pharmacological studies he discovered and isolated a large number of new alkaloids and introduced them into therapy. He tried to isolate the active ingredients from the drugs as much as possible. In 1817, for example, he and Pierre Joseph Pelletier (1788–1842) isolated the alkaloid emetine , an isoquinoline alkaloid , from the ipecacuanha root . In addition, he analyzed the physiological effects of the alkaloids strychnine and quinine for the first time . In his work, he found that extracts from the plant parts can be used better as medicines than the plant parts themselves, since there are fewer active ingredient fluctuations in the extracts.

Anatomical

Among his most important morphological discoveries are the cerebrospinal fluid and its connecting routes. This cerebrospinal fluid fills the inner and outer cavities of the central nervous system, it surrounds the brain and spinal cord with a fluid space. Cerebral chambers ( ventriculi cerebri ) are described - the 1st and 2nd ventricle (lateral ventricle), the 3rd ventricle (unpaired in the diencephalon ) and the 4th ventricle, which is located in the hindbrain . There are also the so-called cisterns ( Cisternae subarachnoideae ), i.e. extensions of the subarachnoid space . The connection of the 1st and 2nd ventricle with the 3rd ventricle is ensured by an interventricular foramen , and that of the 3rd and 4th ventricle by the aqueductus cerebri (Sylvii) .

The median connection or aperture of a larger cistern, the Cisterna cerebromedullaris , with the 4th ventricle ( Ventriculus quartus cerebri ) in turn bears the name of its discoverer Foramen Magendii as an unpaired connection .

In addition, a certain squint position of the eyes ( strabismus ), the Hertwig-Magendie syndrome , bears his name.

Physiological

In 1822 he confirmed the discovery of Charles Bell (1774–1842) that the ventral spinal nerve roots (Radix ventralis motoria) of the spinal cord (Medulla spinalis) have motor functions and the dorsal spinal nerve roots have sensory functions (Radix ventralis sensoria) ( Bell-Magendie Law ).

He used eight young dogs for his experiments. He first cut through all the lumbar and sacral anterior roots on one side and then the posterior roots on the opposite side. The result was that after the severing of all ventral roots a total paralysis ( paralysis ) occurred the leg while on the contralateral side movement still was possible, but the animal there insensitive z. B. has been painful stimuli . This provided evidence that the front roots have a motor function and the rear roots have a sensory function.

He also provided the first evidence of the role of the cerebellum in maintaining balance in the organism. In 1824 he observed the circular movement mouvement de manège , which occurred in a rabbit whose cerebellar stalk ( Pedunculus cerebellaris ) was deliberately severed.

In 1823 he experimentally produced a rigid decerebral or de-brained posture. By removing the brain from a vertebrate animal , the tonic static postural reflex mechanisms predominate in the muscles that are directed against gravity , also known as extensor muscles. In dogs, cats, etc., true decerebralization causes the extensors of all four extremities to become rigid.

In collaboration with Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille (1797–1869), Magendie developed an experimental model and device, sphygmomètre , for measuring blood pressure in animals, which he used in 1838. He influenced Etienne-Jules Marey (1830–1904) in Paris. With this sphygmomanometer they carried out arterial pressure measurements and showed the hemodynamic role played by the elasticity of the large arteries . After a large number of measurements on a wide variety of blood vessels, Magendie also applied the sphygmomètre to the ventricular system of the brain in 1840 in order to measure the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid ( liquor cerebrospinalis ).

Magendie, like many other contemporary researchers (such as Claude Bernard), carried out some of his studies on the vivisected animal model. This was not without contradiction. Once he is said to have yelled at a dog strapped to a board - who defended himself within the scope of his possibilities - shortly before the section, with the words:

"Tais-toi, pauvre bête!"

"Shut up, you stupid animal!"

- François Magendie : unknown

Infectious

Magendie erred in assuming that cholera and yellow fever are not contagious. During this time, around 1831, he went to England as chairman of the advisory board for public hygiene ( présida le comité consultatif d'hygiène publique ) to study a cholera epidemic there. After his return to Paris, he also fought them there and developed symptomatic treatment . But he firmly asserted that the cholera was not contagious and therefore also opposed quarantine measures.

Although he belonged to the anti- contagious camp in these diseases , he had nonetheless made a positive contribution to the study of the infection. He demonstrated experimentally that the saliva of rabid dogs contained a contagious principle.

Magic and the Ether

Another mistake was the persistent failure to recognize and reject ether (diethyl ether) for anesthesia and in surgical practice since October 16, 1846 ( Ether Day ).

Fonts

  • Recherches physiologiques et cliniques sur l'emploi de l'acide prussique ou hydio-dynamique dans le traitement des maladies de potrine et particulièrement dans celui de la phthisie pulmonaire . German: Physiological and clinical studies on the use of hydrogen cyanide in diseases of the breast and the like. especially in pulmonary consumption , translated by Ludwig Cerutti , Baumgärtner, Leipzig 1820.
  • Leçons sur les phénomènes physiques de la vie . German: Lectures on the physical phenomena of life , translated by Baswitz, Du Mont-Schauberg, Cologne
  • Lectures on blood , Esther von Krosigk (Ed.), VDM Verlag Dr. Müller , Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN 978-3-8364-0885-1 .
  • Formulaire pour la preparation et l'emploi de plusieurs nouveaux médicamens. Tels que la noix vomique, la morphine, l'acide prussique, la strychnine, la vératine, les alcalis des quinquinas, l'iode, etc., etc., etc. by F. Magendie, Membre de l'Académie royale de médecine, Médecin du Bureau central d'administration aux hôpitaux et hospices de Paris, etc., etc. Paris: Méquignon-Marvis 1821.
- Regulations for the preparation and use of some new medicines such as the crow's eyes, morphine, hydrogen cyanide ... the iodine to a: ad Franz. Leop. Voß, Leipzig 1822 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
- 2nd, after d. 2nd Edition. d. Orig. Verb. and probably ed. - Leipzig: Voss, 1823. Digitized edition
- Formulary for the preparation and mode of employing several new remedies . Underwood, London 1824 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
- Formulary for the preparation and employment of several new remedies: namely, resin of nux vomica, strychnine, morphine, hydrocyanic acid, preparations of cinchona, emetine, iodine, piperine, chlorurets of lime and soda ... translated by Joseph Houlton. Underwood, London 1828 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
- 6., again verb. u. Probably ed. - Leipzig 1831 Digitized edition
- A Formulary for the Preparation and Medical: Administration of Certain New Remedies . Churchill, London 1835 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Leçons sur les Fonctions et Les Maladies du Système Nerveux . 2 volumes. Paris 1840/41.
  • Note on deux nouvelles espèces de gravelle. In: Journal de physiologie expérimentale et pathologique 6 (1826)
  • Mémoire sur un liquide qui se trouve dans le crane et le canal vertébral de l'homme et des animaux mammifères. In: Journal de physiologie expérimentale et pathologique 5 (1825)

literature

  • Frank Stahnisch: Ideas in Action. The concept of function and its methodological role in the research program of the experimental physiologist François Magendie (1783–1855) . Lit, Münster / Hamburg / London 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6380-8 . (as PDF; 3.6 MB)
  • Rolf Langmann: The work of the French physiologist François Magendie . Dissertation . Düsseldorf 1938.
  • Charles Lichtenthaeler : History of Medicine. Volume II, Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag, Cologne-Lövenich 1974.
  • R. Shane Tubbs et al .: François Magendie (1783–1855) and his contributions to the foundations of neuroscience and neurosurgery. In: J Neurosurg . 108, 2008, pp. 1038-1042.
  • PM Dawson: A Biography of François Magendie . AJ Huntington, Harvard University, 1908. PMC 1692468 (free full text)
  • C. Berkowitz: Disputed discovery: vivisection and experiment in the 19th century. In: Endeavor. 30, 2006, pp. 98-102.
  • H. Frick, H. Leonhardt, D. Starck: Special anatomy . Volume 2, Thieme, 1980.
  • WG Forssmann, Chr. Heym: Neuroanatomy . Springer, 1982.
  • K. Fleischhauer, J. Staubesand, W. Zenker: Benninghoff anatomy . Volume 3, Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1985.
  • Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Magendie, François. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 879.

Web links

Commons : François Magendie  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography National Celebration 2005 Science and Technology (French)
  2. ↑ biography on www.encyclopedia.com (English)
  3. ^ F. Magendie: Quelques idées générales sur les phénoménes particuliers aux corps vivants. In: Bulletin des sciences médicales. 4 (1809), pp. 145-170.
  4. ↑ Frank Stahnisch: Ideas in Action. The concept of function and its methodological role in the research program of the experimental physiologist François Magendie (1783–1855). Lit, Münster / Hamburg / London 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6380-8 . (PDF; 3.6 MB)
  5. ↑ Dissertation by Frank Stahnisch as PDF (see page 13)
  6. ^ F. Magendie, PJ Pelletier: Recheaches chimiques et physiologiques sur l'ipécacuanha. In: Annales de chimie et de physique. 4 (1817), pp. 172-185.
  7. ^ Ian Whitmore (Ed.): Terminologia Anatomica. International Anatomical Terminology. Thieme, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-13-114361-4 .
  8. ↑ FW Stahnisch: instrument transfer as knowledge transfer in neurophysiology: François Magendie's (1783-1855) early Attempts to measure cerebrospinal fluid pressure. In: J Hist Neurosci. 17 (1), 2008, pp. 72-99.
  9. ^ F. Magendie: Lectures on epidemic cholera, its course, anatomic-pathological phenomena and treatments held at the Collège de France. German Translation by S. Hirsch. Leipzig 1839.
personal data
SURNAME Magendie, François
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French physiologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1783
PLACE OF BIRTH Bordeaux
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1855
Place of death Sannois near Paris