[Portrait by Jules Boilly]

Paris, J. [L.] Boilly, [1822]. Engraved broadsheet (36.3 x 27.3 cm). = A rarely-seen portrait of the French anatomist and physiologist François Magendie (1783-1855). He was "considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a Magendie sign, a downward and inward rotation of the eye due to a lesion in the cerebellum. Magendie was a faculty at the College of France, holding the Chair of Medicine from 1830 to 1855. In 1816 he published his Précis élementaire de Physiologie which described an experiment first illustrating the concept of empty calories: 'I took a dog of three years old, fat, and in good health, and put it to feed upon sugar alone.It expired the 32nd day of the experiment.' His most important contribution to science was also his most disputed. Contemporaneous to Sir Charles Bell, Magendie conducted a number of experiments on the nervous system, in particular verifying the differentiation between sensory and motor nerves in the spinal cord, the so-called Bell-Magendie law. This led to an intense rivalry, with the British claiming that Bell published his discoveries first and that Magendie stole his experiments. The intensity of this scientific rivalry perhaps can only be compared to that between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke. Magendie was also a notorious vivisector, shocking even many of his contemporaries with the live dissections that he performed at public lectures in physiology. Richard Martin, an Irish MP, in introducing his famous bill banning animal cruelty in the United Kingdom, described Magendie's public dissection of a greyhound, in which the beast was nailed down ear and paw, half the nerves of its face dissected then left overnight for further dissection, calling Magendie a 'disgrace to Society.' There was a belief among British physicians, even those who defended animal experimentation, that Magendie purposely subjected his experimental animals to needless torture. A Quaker once visited him, questioning him about vivisection; according to Anne Fagot-Largeault's inaugural lesson at the College of France, he responded with much patience, argumenting the reasons of animal experimentation. Besides drawing sharp criticism from contemporaries in both Britain and France, Magendie's methods were later criticized by, among others, Charles Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley. Colin White credits to Magendie the earliest version of the phrase "Lies, damned lies, and statistics". While arguing against using blood-letting to treat fever, and confronted with statistical numbers he believed to be manufactured, Magendie stated: "Thus the alteration of the truth which is already manifesting itself in the progressive form of lying and perjury, offers us, in the superlative, the statistics." (Wikipedia). The artist, Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796-1874) was noted for his album of lithographs, Iconographie de l'Institut royal de France ou collection des portraits des Membres composant les quatre académies depuis 1814 jusqu'en 1825 (1820-1825). His portraits are much less stiff and formal than many by his contemporaries. Signed by the artist in the lower left margin of the portrait. The caption states the date of his birth and the years when Magendie was elected as a member of the Académie (Medical section). Uncut. With in the lower right corner a small, oval blindstamp, 'Galerie Vivienne Bénard'. Scattered light foxing; several creases, and a short tear in the bottom margin; otherwise very good.