Flourens , Marie Jean Pierre , 1794-1867 , physiologist x Flourens , Jean Pierre

Marie Jean Pierre Flourens was born at Maureilhan, near Béziers, in 1794. He studied medicine at Montpellier, and he received the degree of doctor in 1823. He went to Paris in 1824, carrying an introduction from A P de Candolle, the botanist, to Georges Cuvier, who received him and took an interest in him. In Paris he engaged in physiological research. He gave a course of lectures on the physiological theory of the sensations, at the Athénée, in 1821. He became a member of the Institute, in the division "Economic rurale", 1828. He became Cuvier's substitute as lecturer on human anatomy at the Jardin du Roi, in 1830, and was elected to the post of titular professor, in 1832, which he vacated for the professorship of comparative anatomy created for him at the museum of the Jardin the same year. He was appointed a perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences in 1833. He was returned as a deputy for the arrondissement of Béziers, in 1838. He was elected, in preference to Victor Hugo, to succeed J F Michaud at the French Academy in 1840. He was created a commander of the legion of honour in 1845, and a peer of France, in 1846. Flourens drew the attention of the Academy of Sciences to the anaesthetic effect of chloroform on animals, in 1847. He withdrew completely from political life in the Revolution of 1848, and accepted the professorship of natural history at the College de France, in 1855. He died at Montgeron, near Paris, in 1867.