DARESTE, CAMILLE. — French physician and naturalist, born in Paris in 1822, died there in 1899. He directed the teratology laboratory at the “Ecole des hautes études” in Paris.
He was among the few who, having recognized the hypothetical nature of evolutionism, advocated experiments that might resolve the question. An inductive thinker, he wrote: “It is not through the accumulation of more or less probable hypotheses, the fuel of interminable and sterile discussions, that one will succeed in determining the origin of the forms of life. If the problem is accessible to us, if it does not exceed the reach of human intelligence, only experiment can provide elements for its solution.”
BIBL.: Works: Recherches sur la production artificielle des monstrosités, Paris 1877; Troisième notice sur les travaux scientifiques de C. D., there 1879–83. Luigi Scremin