Fata morgana: positivism in nineteenth-century French biology.

“La vie, voulez-vous que je vous la définisse scientifiquement? C'est de l'inconnu qui f… le camp.” One of the most striking areas of nineteenth-century scientific growth was in biology. Apart from anti-Darwinism, two of the most intriguing issues in French biology are the influence of Auguste Comte and of Claude Bernard, the odd couple who laid down nearly opposite royal roads to the great research empire that the French believed to be their birthright. The scientific community, backed by republican enthusiasm, worshiped Bernard as its great culture hero. Dumas put it so well that Pasteur quoted him: “Ce n'est pas seulement un grand physiologiste, c'est la physiologie elle-même.” On Bernard's death in 1878, the black-banded pages of grief in the Revenue scientifique morosely proclaimed his reputation even in Germany. “Claude Bernard était de tous les français celui que l'orgueilleuse science d'outre-Rhin osait le moins méconnaître.” The Chamber of Deputies paid 10,000 francs for his burial from Saint-Sulpice in the first public funeral for a scientist. Yet Comte's influence lurks in the inspirational ideology leading directly to biology. Some even believe that it has left its potent traces in the Bernardian gospel itself. Did Auguste Comte and the divided band of positivists significantly influence the development of biology in nineteenth-century France? Many historians of biology, perhaps even most scholars, would not hesitate to answer yes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]