BERNARD, CLAUDE. - PROOVING THE DOCTRINE OF IRRETABILITY.

Analyse physiologique des propriètés des systèmes musculaire et nerveux au moyen du curare.

Paris, Mallet-Bachelier, 1856. 4to. No wrappers. In: "Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences", Tome 43, No 18. Pp. (825-) 892. (Entire issue offered). Bernard's paper: pp. 825-829.

First printin of an importent paper in toxicology in which Bernard describes how he "paralyzed motor nerve-endings with curare and demonstrated the independent excitability of muscle; his paper is the classical proof of Haller's doctrine of irretability" (Garrison & Morton).

"Bernard was a true innovator in the study of the effects of toxic and medicinal substances. No one before him had understood so well the role of drug metabolization. He regarded poisoning as a local phenomenon, and advocated the use of certain poisons in physiological research. Curare and carbon monoxide had served him, he said, as "chemical bistoury," making it possible to destroy specific structures selectively. "(DSB).

Garrison & Morton, No 616 and 2079.

Order-nr.: 47113