François Magendie | |
|---|---|
 François Magendie in 1822 | |
| Born | 6 October 1783 Bordeaux, France |
| Died | 7 October 1855 (aged 72) Sannois, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Foramen of MagendieBell-Magendie law |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physiology |
François Magendie (6 October 1783 – 7 October 1855) was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer ofexperimental physiology. He is known for describing theforamen of Magendie. There is also aMagendie sign, a downward and inward rotation of theeye due to a lesion in thecerebellum. Magendie was a faculty at theCollege of France, holding the Chair of Medicine from 1830 to 1855 (he was succeeded byClaude Bernard, who worked previously as his assistant).
In 1816 he publishedPrécis élementaire de Physiologie which described an experiment first illustrating the concept ofempty calories:[1]
His most important contribution to science was also his most disputed. Contemporaneous to SirCharles Bell, Magendie conducted a number of experiments on the nervous system, in particular verifying the differentiation between sensory and motor nerves in the spinal cord, the so-calledBell–Magendie law. This led to an intense rivalry, with the British claiming that Bell published his discoveries first and that Magendie stole his experiments. The intensity of this scientific rivalry perhaps can only be compared to that betweenIsaac Newton andRobert Hooke.
Magendie was also a notoriousvivisector, shocking even many of his contemporaries with the live dissections that he performed at public lectures in physiology.Richard Martin, an IrishMP, in introducing his famous bill banning animal cruelty in the United Kingdom, described Magendie's public dissection of agreyhound, in which the beast was nailed down ear and paw, half the nerves of its face dissected then left overnight for further dissection, calling Magendie a "disgrace to Society." There was a belief among British physicians, even those who defended animal experimentation, that Magendie purposely subjected his experimental animals to needless torture. AQuaker once visited him, questioning him about vivisection; according toAnne Fagot-Largeault's inaugural lesson at the College of France, he responded with much patience, argumenting the reasons of animal experimentation.[2] Besides drawing sharp criticism from contemporaries in both Britain and France, Magendie's methods were later criticized by, among others,Charles Darwin andThomas Henry Huxley.
Colin White credits to Magendie the earliest version of the phrase "Lies, damned lies, and statistics". While arguing against usingblood-letting to treatfever, and confronted with statistical numbers he believed to be manufactured, Magendie stated: "Thus the alteration of the truth which is already manifesting itself in the progressive form of lying and perjury, offers us, in thesuperlative, the statistics."[3]
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