Flourens, Jean Pierre Marie. B. at Thezan (Hérault), 1794, D. at Mougeron, near Paris, 1867; M.D., Montpellier, 1813, pupil of De Candolle and Cuvier; Prof. at the Jardin des Plantes; Mem. of Inst. of France; Perpetual Sec. Acad. des Sciences; Mem. Academy of France; Commander Leg. of Hon.; Mem. of principal Litt. and Scient. Socs. of Europe.
Author of “Analyse de la Philosophie Anatomique, où l’on considère plus particulièrement l’influence qu’aura cet ouvrage sur l’état actuel de la Physiologie,” Paris, 1819; “Recherches sur les fonctions du grand sympathique,” 1823; “Recherches expérir mentales sur les propriétés et les fonctions du système nerveux dans les animaux vertébrés,” Paris, 1824; “Expériences sur le système nerveux,” Paris, 1825; “Expériences sur l’action de la moëlle épinière sur la circulation,” Paris, 1829; “De l’instinct et de l’intelligence des animaux,” Paris, 1841; “Recherches sur le développement des os et des dents,” Paris, 1842; “Mécanisme de la respiration des poissons,” Paris, 1843; “Anatomie Générale de la peau et des membranes Muqueuses,” Paris, 1843; “Examen de la Phrénologie, réfutation des doctrines matérialistes de Gall, Spurzheim, et Brouissais,” Paris, 1842; “Théorie expérimentale de la formation des os,” Paris, 1847; “Nouvelles recherches touchant l’histoire de la circulation du sang,” Journal des Savants, 1849; “De la longévité humaine et de la quantité de vie sur la terre,” Paris, 1856; “De la vie et de l’intelligence,” Paris, 1858; “De la raison du génie et de la folie,” Paris, 1861; “Psychologie comparée,” Paris, 1864, and a great number of contributions to the “Comptes rendus de l’acad. des Sciences.”
Made numerous experiments on ruminating animals, on rabbits, on the brains of fishes, and on the semi-circular canals of the brains of ducks, fowls, and pigeons.
“The description given by Flourens of the phenomena resulting from the section of the semi-circular canals in rabbits, is almost entirely inaccurate.”—Cyon, “Fonctions des canaux semi-circulaires,” Bibl. de l’École des Hautes Études, Paris, 1879, p. 51, note 2.
“Flourens supported his bold hypothesis almost solely by experiments on pigeons and other inferior animals. The few experiments on mammals, which he mentions, are very meagrely described and of trifling value.”—Goltz, “Verrichtungen des Grosshirns, p. 3.
“I heard M. Flourens, in one of his lectures, state the following:—‘Majendie sacrificed 4,000 dogs to establish the distinctions of the sensory and the motor nerves according to Charles Bell; then he sacrificed 4,000 more dogs to prove that he had made a mistake. I,’ added M. Flourens, ‘had to continue the experiments, and I have proved that Majendie’s first opinion was correct; the reflex motions, which he did not quite understand, had caused his doubts. To arrive at this result, I also have had to sacrifice a great number of dogs.’”—Blatin, Nos Cruautés, pp. 201-202.
Foderholm, A. M.D., Stockholm.
Made experiments on dogs and rabbits with carbon oxide.—Scandinavian Med. Archives, 1874.
Fortunatow, A. Physiol. Inst., St. Petersburg.
Author of “Ueber die Fettresorption und histologische Structur der Dünndarmzotten,” Pflüger’s Archiv., Vol. XIV., p. 285.