At a somewhat later period Bichat abandoned all further attempts to cultivate either the knowledge or the practice of surgery, and concentrated all his efforts upon the extension of our knowledge of the principles of physiology. He made very careful researches into the nature and functions of serous membranes, and published the results of his labors in a volume which met with great favor at the hands of a large part of the medical profession, and yet at the same time brought out strong manifestations of envy on the part of other physicians. As Buisson justly remarks, these manifestations of envy furnished the very best sort of proof that Bichat, who paid no attention whatever to these criticisms, had done his work remarkably well.[[18]]

In the same year (1800) Bichat published a third treatise, under the title “Recherches Physiologiques sur la Vie et la Mort.” (A later edition appeared in 1805.)

One day, as Bichat was descending the main staircase of Hôtel-Dieu, his foot slipped and he fell in such a manner as to strike his head with considerable force against one of the steps. When somebody came to his assistance it was found that he was unconscious. In a short time, however, consciousness returned, and Bichat was able, though with some difficulty, to regain his home. On the following day he suffered from a severe headache, but insisted, nevertheless, on making a few professional calls. The exhaustion which he felt after making these visits compelled him to take to his bed as soon as he reached his residence. Death took place on the fourteenth day after the occurrence of the accident; that is, on July 22, 1802.

Bonaparte, who was at that time First Consul of the French Republic, gave orders, upon hearing the news of Bichat’s death, that a monument should be erected in the vestibule of Hôtel-Dieu to commemorate the distinguished services rendered to humanity in that institution by Desault and Bichat. The following is the inscription which it bears:—

Ce marbre dédié a la Mémoire des Citoyens Desault et Bichat a été posé pour attester la reconnaissance de leur contemporains, pour les services qu’ils ont rendus, le premier à la Chirurgie Française dont il est le restaurateur, le second à la Médecine qu’il a enrichée de plusieurs ouvrages utiles, et dont il eût aggrandi le domaine si l’impitoyable mort ne l’eût frappé dans sa 31me année.[[19]]

Aside from his scientific attainments and from his untiring zeal in prosecuting his researches in anatomy and physiology, Bichat possessed certain traits of character which caused him to be greatly beloved by his pupils. He was of a very kindly disposition, and it was not an easy matter to excite him to anger or even to cause him to show impatience.

The first feeble beginnings of experimental physiology are to be credited to the Swiss physician, Albrecht von Haller, whose death occurred in 1777. Then followed, a few years later, the more serious efforts that were made in the same field of scientific inquiry by John Hunter, of England. The real birth of this new science, however, took place in France, under the fostering care of Lavoisier, Bichat, Magendie and others. The establishment in Paris, by Bichat, of a large laboratory where such research work could be carried on advantageously, constituted the first act in the creation of an organized experimental physiology. Several years later (1867), Claude Bernard induced Monsieur Duruy, who was at that time Minister of Public Instruction in France, to establish at the Jardin des Plantes a laboratory where general physiology might be studied experimentally.

BOOK IX