Jean Pierre Flourens
| Jean Pierre Flourens | |
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Jean Pierre Flourens
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| Born | 13 April 1794 Maureilhan |
| Died | 6 December 1867 (aged 73) Montgeron |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | physiologist |
| Known for | anesthesia |
Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (13 April 1794 – 6 December 1867), father of Gustave Flourens, was a French physiologist, the founder of experimental brain science and a pioneer in anesthesia. Through the study of ablations on animals, he was the first to prove that the mind was located in the brain, not the heart.
He was born at Maureilhan, near Béziers, in the département of Hérault. At fifteen he began studying medicine at Montpellier, where in 1823 he received the degree of doctor. In the following year he went to Paris, carrying an introduction from A. P. de Candolle, the botanist, to Georges Cuvier, who received him kindly, and took an interest in him. At Paris Flourens engaged in physiological research, occasionally contributing to publications; and in 1821, at the Athénée, he gave a course of lectures on the physiological theory of the , which attracted much attention amongst men of science.
In 1825, Flourens pioneered the experimental method of carrying out localized lesions 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. The trouble was that Gall did not use a proper scientific approach to his affirmations, and the Academy of Sciences of Paris, acting on order of the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, asked Flourens to solve the matter.
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