Claude Bernard

Claude Bernard (born July 12, 1813, Saint-Julien, France—died Feb. 10, 1878, Paris) was a French physiologist known chiefly for his discoveries concerning the role of the pancreas in digestion, the glycogenic function of the liver, and the regulation of the blood supply by the vasomotor nerves. On a broader stage, Bernard played a role in establishing the principles of experimentation in the life sciences, advancing beyond the vitalism and indeterminism of earlier physiologists to become one of the founders of experimental medicine. His most seminal contribution was his concept of the internal environment of the organism, which led to the present understanding of homeostasis—i.e., the self-regulation of vital processes.

Early training.

Bernard’s father, Pierre, was a winegrower; his mother, Jeanne Saulnier, was of peasant background. When Claude was very young, his father failed in a wine-marketing venture and tried to make ends meet by teaching school. Despite his efforts, the family never prospered, and when he died, the survivors were left in debt. Educational opportunities were scarce for a poor winegrower’s son in the France of Louis XVIII. The boy studied Latin with the local priest and then was enrolled in a Jesuit-conducted school at Villefranche, where no natural science was taught. At 18 Bernard ended his secondary schooling at Thoissey without a diploma and was apprenticed to an apothecary in a Lyon suburb.

Bernard’s days were spent in menial tasks relieved by errands to a veterinary school or, on his rare times off, by visits to a theatre. He wrote a playlet, La Rose du Rhône, now lost, and then began writing Arthur de Bretagne, a historical drama in five acts. His employer was not pleased, however, and the apprenticeship came to a halt, the youth returning home in July 1833. By November 1834 he was in Paris with the completed manuscript of Arthur de Bretagne and a letter of introduction. The literary critic Saint-Marc Girardin read his play and advised him to try medicine instead of playwriting.

Bernard enrolled that same winter in the Faculty of Medicine in Paris and, in due course, was admitted as an extern in the hospitals. Outwardly reserved and even shy at that time, he had an inner strength that was to overcome poverty and discouragements. Of 29 students passing the examination for the internship, Bernard ranked 26th. Serving in Paris hospitals were the celebrated doctors Pierre Rayer and François Magendie, and Bernard studied under the latter at both the Hôtel-Dieu and the Collège de France. Magendie noticed Bernard’s skillful dissections and took him on as a research assistant.

Bernard became involved in Magendie’s research on spinal nerves. His first publication dealt with the chorda tympani (a branch of the facial nerve), while his medical dissertation was devoted to the function of the gastric juice in nutrition (1843). These maiden publications were prophetic, for much of his later research concerned neurology and metabolism. Failing in the examination that would have qualified him to teach in the medical school, he collaborated with others in research on digestion and on the exotic poison curare, thus treading two paths that would lead him to fame. He was rather old at the age of 31 to be content with a research assistantship, however, and resigned the position late in 1844. Left in financial straits, he turned his thoughts again toward medical practice.

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To save his research career, a friend arranged a marriage of convenience for him with Marie-Françoise Martin, daughter of a Paris doctor. The marriage brought him a dowry of 60,000 francs but was destined to be painfully unhappy. Their separation was to follow his election to the French Academy late in life.

Research on the pancreas and the liver.

In 1847 Bernard became Magendie’s deputy at the Collège de France. This period was marked by a veritable explosion of discoveries, beginning in 1846, when Bernard solved the mystery of the carnivorous rabbits. Puzzled one day by the chance observation that some rabbits were passing clear—not cloudy—urine, just like meat-eating animals, he inferred that they had not been fed and were subsisting on their own tissues. He confirmed his hypothesis by feeding meat to the famished animals. An autopsy of the rabbits yielded an important discovery concerning the role of the pancreas in digestion: the secretions of the pancreas broke down fat molecules into fatty acids and glycerin. Bernard then showed that the principal processes of digestion take place in the small intestine, not in the stomach as was previously believed.

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His work on the pancreas led to research on the liver, culminating in his second great discovery, the glycogenic function of the liver. In 1856 Bernard discovered glycogen, a white starchy substance found in the liver. He found that this complex substance was built up by the body from sugar and served as a storage reserve of carbohydrates that could be broken down to sugars as needed, thereby keeping the sugar content of the blood at a constant level. Bernard’s discovery showed that the digestive system not only breaks down complex molecules into simple ones but also does the opposite, building up complex molecules from simpler ones. Simultaneously, he was nearing his third great achievement—explanation of the regulation of the blood supply by the vasomotor nerves. He discovered in this regard that the vasomotor nerves control the dilation and constriction of blood vessels in response to temperature changes in the environment. For example, in cold weather the blood vessels of the skin constrict in order to conserve heat, while in hot weather they expand to dissipate excess heat. This control mechanism, like the glycogenic functions of the liver, illustrates how the body maintains a stable internal environment in the midst of changing external conditions—a fundamental phenomenon known as homeostasis.

Bernard also conducted important studies on the effects of such poisons as carbon monoxide and curare on the body. He showed that carbon monoxide could substitute for oxygen and combine with hemoglobin, thereby causing oxygen starvation. His experiments with curare showed how this dread poison causes paralysis and death by attacking the motor nerves, while having no effect on the sensory nerves. He demonstrated that, because of this selectivity, curare could be used as an experimental tool in differentiating neuromuscular from primary muscular mechanisms.