Gabriel-Madeleine-Camille Dareste de la Chavanne (22 November 1822, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 1899, in Paris) was a French

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and specialist in experimental embryology particularly in the examination of natural defects as well as the artificial induction of developmental defects, part of a field then termed as a

teratology Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development in organisms during their life span. It is a sub-discipline in medical genetics which focuses on the classification of congenital abnormalities in dysmorphology caused by ...

Life and work

Dareste was born in Paris in a family of Italian origins, and was the brother of Antoine and Rodolphe Dareste de la Chavanne. He became a student of Etienne Saint Hilaire and obtained his doctorate in medicine in 1847 and his doctorate in science in 1851. He worked at the University of Lille, where he was chair, successor to Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, at the faculty of natural history from 1864 to 1872. In 1872 he was appointed professor of

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

and

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. He was named director of the laboratory of

, and from 1875, associated with the École des Hautes-études. He was awarded the grand prize in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

by the

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

for the treatise ''Recherches sur la production artificielle de monstruosités'' (1877). He examined

spina bifida Spina bifida (SB; ; Latin for 'split spine') is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebral column, spine and the meninges, membranes around the spinal cord during embryonic development, early development in pregnancy. T ...

in human embryos and noted that they were caused by a failed neural tube closure in embryonic development. He discovered that the more serious abnormalities were induced by disruptions at an earlier developmental stages. Based on his experiments he proposed five principles of teratology in the 1891 edition of his book. Following the work of Etienne and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, he became a founder of teratogeny, it being defined as the experimental study of conditions for the artificial production of monstrosities. Beginning in 1855, he purposely produced monstrous chick embryos by using "indirect methods" that exposed the egg to teratogenic factors — such as, implementing lowered or increased incubation temperatures for several hours. He had Charles d'Almeida construct a thermo-electric thermometer for his experimental use. Dareste quoted Francis Bacon and stated that "He who will know the paths of nature will observe more easily their deviations; on the other hand, he who will know the deviations will describe more precisely the paths."

Works

* ''Troisième mémoire sur les circonvolutions du cerveau chez les mammifères'' (1855) – Third memoire on convolutions of the brain in mammals. * ''Note sur un nouveau genre de monstruosité double appartenant à la famille des polygnathiens'' (1859) – Note on a new kind of dual monstrosity belonging to the family of polygnathians * ''Recherches sur la production artificielle des monstruosités, ou, Essais de Tératogénie expérimentale'' (1876) – Research on the artificial production of montrosities, or essays on experimental teratogeny.OCLC Classify
(publications)

References

External links

Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences, Volume 55, Académie des sciences (France)
- CRAS 1862
Louis Pasteur et Lille 1854-1857, Alain Gérard, Éditeur Institut Pasteur de Lille, 1995

Archives de zoologie expérimentale et générale, Volume 1, Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, 1872
1822 births 1899 deaths 19th-century French zoologists French embryologists Teratologists Academic staff of the Lille University of Science and Technology Scientists from Paris National Museum of Natural History (France) people {{France-zoologist-stub