View source for Jean Pierre Flourens

{{Short description|French physiologist and anesthesia pioneer (1794–1867)}}
{{For|the French mathematician|Jean-Pierre Florens}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Jean Pierre Flourens
|image             =Pierre_flourens.jpeg
|image_size        =
|caption           = Jean Pierre Flourens
|birth_date        = 13 April 1794
|birth_place       = [[Maureilhan]], France
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1867|12|6|1794|4|13|df=y}}
|death_place       = [[Montgeron]], France
|residence  = 
|citizenship = 
|nationality       = French
|ethnicity         = 
|field             = [[physiologist]]
|work_institutions = 
|alma_mater        = 
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[anesthesia]]
|author_abbrev_bot =|author_abbrev_zoo = 
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|prizes            = 
|religion = |footnotes = |signature         =
}}'''Marie Jean Pierre Flourens''' (13 April 1794 – 6 December 1867), father of [[Gustave Flourens]], was a French [[physiology|physiologist]], the founder of experimental [[brain]] science, and a pioneer in [[anesthesia]].

==Biography==
Flourens was born at [[Maureilhan]], near [[Béziers]], in the ''[[département in France|département]]'' of [[Hérault]].  At fifteen he began studying [[medicine]] at [[Montpellier]], where he received the degree of [[Doctor of Medicine|doctor]] in 1813. In the following year he went to [[Paris, France|Paris]], carrying an introduction from [[A. P. de Candolle]], the botanist, to [[Georges Cuvier]], who received him kindly, and took an interest in him. In Paris, Flourens engaged in [[physiology|physiological research]], occasionally contributing to publications; and, in 1821, at the [[Athénée]], he gave a course of lectures on the physiological theory of the [[Wikt:sensation|sensations]], which attracted much attention amongst men of science.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1815, Flourens pioneered the experimental method of carrying out localized [[lesion]]s of the brain in living [[rabbits]] and [[pigeons]] and carefully observing their effects on motricity, sensibility and [[behavior]]. His intention was to investigate localisationism, i.e., whether different parts of the brain had different functions, as the Austrian physician [[Franz Joseph Gall]], the founder of [[phrenology]], was proposing.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} The trouble was that Gall did not use a proper scientific approach to his affirmations. In 1825, Flourens was elected as a member to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1825&year-max=1825&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-06|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

Flourens was able to demonstrate convincingly for the first time that the main divisions of the brain were indeed responsible for largely different functions. By removing the [[cerebral hemisphere]]s, for instance, all perceptions, motricity, and [[judgment]] were abolished. The removal of the [[cerebellum]] affected the animal's [[sense of balance|equilibrium]] and [[motor coordination]], while the destruction of the [[brainstem]] (medulla oblongata) caused death. These experiments led Flourens to the conclusion that the cerebral hemispheres are responsible for higher cognitive functions, that the cerebellum regulates and integrates movements, and that the medulla controls vital functions, such as [[Circulatory system|circulation]], [[Respiration (physiology)|respiration]] and general bodily stability.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} On the other hand, he was unable (probably because his experimental subjects have relatively primitive cortex) to find specific regions for [[memory]] and [[cognition]], which led him to believe that they are represented in a diffuse form around the brain. So, different functions could indeed be ascribed to particular regions of the brain, but a finer localization was lacking.

Flourens, by destroying the horizontal semicircular canal of [[pigeon]]s, noted that they continue to fly in a circle, showing the purpose of the semicircular canals.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Flourens was chosen by Cuvier in 1828 to deliver a course of lectures on natural history at the [[Collège de France]], and in the same year became, in succession to [[Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc|LAG Bosc]], a member of the Institute, in the division "Economic rurale." In 1830 he became Cuvier's substitute as lecturer on human [[anatomy]] at the [[Jardin des Plantes|Jardin du Roi]], and in 1832 was elected to the post of titular professor, which he vacated for the professorship of [[comparative anatomy]] created for him at the museum of the Jardin the same year.  In 1833 Flourens, in accordance with the dying request of Cuvier, was appointed a perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences; and in 1838 he was returned as a deputy for the ''arrondissement'' of Béziers. In 1840 he was elected, in preference to [[Victor Hugo]], to succeed [[Joseph François Michaud|Jean François Michaud]] at the [[French Academy]]; and in 1845 he was created a commander of the ''[[légion d'honneur]]'', and in the next year a peer of France. In 1841, he was elected a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In March 1847 Flourens drew the attention of the Academy of Sciences to the [[anesthesia|anesthetic]] effect of [[chloroform]] on animals.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

On the revolution of 1848 he withdrew completely from political life; and in 1855 he accepted the professorship of natural history at the [[Collège de France]]. He died at Montgeron, near Paris on 6 December 1867.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Opposition to Darwinism==

Flourens was an opponent of [[Darwinism]] and criticized the idea of [[natural selection]]. In 1864, he authored ''Examen du livre du M. Darwin sur l'Origine des Espèces''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Flourens|first=Pierre (1794-1867) Auteur du texte|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k355810|title=Examen du livre de M. Darwin sur l'origine des espèces / par P. Flourens,...|date=1864|language=EN}}</ref> He refuted the arguments of [[spontaneous generation]].<ref>Henry, Freeman G. (1999). ''Anti-Darwinism in France: Science and the Myth of Nation''. ''[[Nineteenth-Century French Studies]]'' 27 3/4: 290-304.</ref>

He was a [[Creationism|creationist]] and he defended the [[History of evolutionary thought|fixity of species]].<ref>Clark, Linda L. (1984). ''Social Darwinism in France''. University of Alabama. p. 15. {{ISBN|978-0817301491}}</ref><ref>Simonton, Dean Keith. (2004). ''Creativity in Science: Chance, Logic, Genius, and Zeitgeist''. Cambridge University Press. p. 125. {{ISBN|0-521-83579-8}}</ref> Flourens criticized [[Charles Darwin]] for personifying nature. He argued that natural selection is a contradictory term as nature does not select.<ref name="Huxley">Huxley, Thomas Henry. (1880). [https://archive.org/stream/laysermonsaddres00huxluoft#page/314/ ''Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews'']. London: Macmillan & Co. pp. 314-319.</ref> Flourens' book was never translated into English and no reviewers attempted to refute his arguments in detail. However, [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] took issue with his criticism of Darwinism, noting that "his objections to details are of the old sort, so battered and hackneyed on this side of the Channel, that not even a Quarterly Reviewer could be induced to pick them up for the purpose of pelting Mr. Darwin over again."<ref name="Huxley"/>

==Bibliography==
Besides numerous shorter scientific memoirs, Flourens published:

*''Essai sur quelques points de la doctrine de la revulsion et de la derivation'' (Montpellier, 1813)
*''Experiences sur le système nerveux'' (Paris, 1825)
*''Cours sur la génération, l'ovologie, et l'embryologie'' (1836)
*''Analyse raisonnée des travaux de G. Cuvier'' (1841)
*''Recherches sur le développement des os et des dents'' (1842)
*''Anatomie générale de la peau et des membranes muqueuses'' (1843)
*''[[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Buffon]], histoire de ses travaux et de ses idées'' (1844)
*''Fontenelle, ou de la philosophie moderne relativement aux sciences physiques'' (1847)
*''Théorie expérémentale de la formation des os'' (1847)
*''Œuvres complètes de Buffon'' (1853)
*''De la longévité humaine et de la quantité de vie sur le globe'' (1854), numerous editions
*''Histoire de la découverte de la circulation du sang'' (1854)
*''Cours de physiologie comparée'' (1856)
*''Recuesi des lloges historiques'' (1856)
*''De la vie et de l'intelligence'' (1858)
*''De la raison, du genie, et de la folie'' (1861)
*''Ontologie naturelle'' (1861)
*[https://archive.org/details/examendulivrede00flougoog ''Examen du livre du M. Darwin sur l'Origine des Espèces''] (1864).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}

==Further reading==

* Sabbatini, R.M.E. Phrenology, The History of Brain Localization. Brain & Mind Magazine, March 1997. An excerpt was transcribed here by permission of the author.
* {{EB1911 |wstitle=Flourens, Marie Jean Pierre |volume=10 |page=553}}
*{{cite journal
|last=Pearce
|first=J M S
|year= 2009 |title=Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens (1794-1867) and cortical localization
|journal=[[Eur. Neurol.]]
|volume=61
|issue=5
|pages=311–4
|location = Switzerland| pmid = 19295220
|doi = 10.1159/000206858
 |doi-access=free
}}
*{{cite journal
|last=Yildirim
|first=Fatos Belgin
|author2=Sarikcioglu Levent
|date=Aug 2007
|title=Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (1794 1867): an extraordinary scientist of his time
|journal=[[J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry]]
|volume=78
|issue=8
|pages=852
|location = England| pmid = 17635978
|pmc=2117745
|doi = 10.1136/jnnp.2007.118380
 }}
*{{cite journal
|doi=10.1080/09647049409525588
|last=Lechtenberg
|first=R
|date=Jan 1994
|title=The case against ataxia
|journal=[[Journal of the History of the Neurosciences]]
|volume=3
|issue=1
|pages=53–9
|location = [[Netherlands]]| issn = 0964-704X| pmid = 11618807
 }}
*{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Flourens, Marie Jean Pierre|short=x}}

{{Académie française Seat 29}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flourens, Marie Jean Pierre}}
[[Category:1794 births]]
[[Category:1867 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:Members of Parliament for Hérault]]
[[Category:Members of the Chamber of Peers of the July Monarchy]]
[[Category:French neuroscientists]]
[[Category:French physiologists]]
[[Category:History of neuroscience]]
[[Category:University of Montpellier alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Collège de France]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Officers of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]