- French physiologist
and founder of experimental medicine. Bernard first demonstrated that
digestion is not restricted to the stomach, but takes place throughout
the small intestine. He discovered the digestive input of the pancreas,
several functions of the liver, and the vasomotor nerves which dilate
and contract the blood vessels and thus regulate body temperature.
This led him to the concept of the milieu intérieur ('internal
environment') whose stability is essential to good health.
Bernard was born in St-Julien, Rhõne-Alpes region, and studied
medicine in Paris. He never practised but devoted himself to research.
He was made professor 1854 at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris, and
1855 at the Collège de France.
Bernard performed a series of important experiments on the physiology
of digestion, showing, for example, that pancreatic secretions were
important in fat metabolism, and investigating the mechanisms of nervous
control of gastric secretion. He also investigated the physiology
of fetal tissues and the nutritive role of the placenta; and the role
of drugs such as curare and opium alkaloids and their effects on the
nervous system.
He summed up his work in The Introduction to the Study of Experimental
Medicine 1865.
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