BERNARD, CLAUDE. - A French priest known as the "poor priest," born in Dijon to a distinguished magistrate on December 26, 1888, died in Paris on March 23, 1641. Educated by the Jesuits in Dôle, he later studied law in Toulouse. He then led a somewhat dissipated life, even after embracing the ecclesiastical state. Converted to fervor under the guidance of Fr. de Condren (q.v.), he placed himself under the direction of the Jesuit Fr. Marnat. After distributing an inheritance of 400,000 lire to the poor, he imposed upon himself a life of solitude and mortification and dedicated himself to assisting the poor.
His apostolate for 15 years in the hospitals and prisons of Paris aroused the admiration of Anne of Austria, Richelieu, and all of contemporary society. His most humble and popular sermons attracted large crowds; Fr. de St-Jure sent his novices to learn from the "holy orator," as he called him. He disseminated more than 200,000 copies of the *Memoraire* (q.v.), fostering devotion to the Blessed Virgin, of whom he was greatly devoted, and effected countless conversions. In 1639, he founded the "Seminary of the Thirty-Three" (for 33 students), preceding the initiatives of St. Vincent de Paul, Olier, and Bourdoise. This institute lasted until 1789.
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BERNARD, CLAUDE. - Physiologist, born in St-Julien (Rhône) on July 12, 1813, died in Paris on February 10, 1878. Of humble origins, he began his youth as a simple pharmacy clerk. Later, after earning a medical degree, he was appointed assistant and subsequently succeeded the renowned physiologist F. Magendie. From 1854 onward, he held the chair of physiology, created for him at the Collège de France, and from 1868 taught general physiology at the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. A member of the French Academy and a senator of the empire, he had a host of students, many of whom became famous.
In the field of physiology, B. is one of the principal figures of the past century and is remembered not only for numerous and fundamental discoveries (the glycogenic function of the liver, the vasomotor action of the nervous system on arterial walls, the digestive action of pancreatic juice, the physiology of the tympanic chord and spinal nerve, the genesis of animal heat, the pharmacological activity of anesthetics and curare, and the interdependence of organ functions) but also for introducing an experimental methodology and theoretical framework that led to decisive advances in the science of life.
B. essentially adhered to determinism while explicitly acknowledging the inadequacy of physics and chemistry to provide an adequate explanation of life (cf. *De la physiologie générale*, 306, 307, 321). Another aspect of his thought is evident in the following words spoken on the occasion of his induction into the Academy: "It would be an error to believe that the scientist, in following the precepts of the experimental method, must reject every a priori conception and silence his sentiment so as to consult only the results of experience... His sentiment, even unbeknownst to him, obeys the innate need that irresistibly impels us to trace things back to their origin, but his gaze remains fixed upon nature because our idea becomes precise and luminous only by returning to the hearth of knowledge that is within us after reflecting upon the external world, just as a ray of light can only illuminate us by reflecting off the objects around us" (*La science expérimentale*).
Among B.'s principal works are: *Leçons sur les propriétés des tissus vivants* (1865); *De la physiologie générale* (1872); *Leçons sur les phénomènes de la vie communs aux animaux et aux végétaux* (1877-79); *Leçons de pathologie expérimentale* (1880). Also noteworthy for their broad influence on the formation of modern scientific thought are: *Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale* (1865) and *La science expérimentale* (1878). All published in Paris. *Pensées, Notes d'étalchées*, ed. L. Delhoume, ibid. 1937; *Philosophie*, ed. J. Chevalier, ibid. 1938.