- Swiss
physician and scientist, founder of neurology. He studied the muscles
and nerves, and concluded that nerves provide the stimulus that triggers
muscle contraction. He also showed that it is the nerves, not muscle
or skin, that receive sensation.
Haller was born in Berne and studied at Leiden, the Netherlands. He
was professor at Göttingen, Germany, 1736-53.
Tracing the pathways of nerves, he was able to demonstrate that they
always lead to the spinal cord or the brain, suggesting that these regions
might be where awareness of sensation and the initiation of answering
responses are located.
While carrying out his experiments, Haller discovered several processes
of the human body, such as the role of bile in digesting fats. He also
wrote a report on his study of embryonic development.
Haller published De respiratione experimenta anatomica/Experiments in
the Anatomy of Respiration 1747 and Elementa physiologiae corporis humani/The
Physiological Elements of the Human Body 1757-66.
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