Mathias-Marie Duval (7 February 1844 – 28 February 1907) was a French professor of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

and

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissue (biology), tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at large ...

born in

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal dialect, Provençal in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional ) is the only Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur Re ...

. He was the son of

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Joseph Duval-Jouve Joseph Duval-Jouve (7 August 1810 – 25 August 1883) was a French botanist born in Boissy-Lamberville. He was the father of histologist Mathias-Marie Duval (1844-1907). He taught classes at the college in Grasse (1832–52), afterwards serv ...

(1810–1883).

Biography

He studied medicine 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 ...

, and later served as

prosector A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and ...

Strassburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. In 1873 he became agrégé, subsequently becoming director of the

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, wh ...

laboratory at the

École des Hautes Etudes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

and an anatomy professor at the École Supérieur des Beaux-Arts. In 1885 he replaced

Charles-Philippe Robin Charles-Philippe Robin (; 4 June 1821 – 6 October 1885) was a French anatomist, biologist, and histologist born in Jasseron, département Ain. He was a founder of the French Society for Biology in which he advocated Positivism, positivist philos ...

(1821–1895) as professor of histology at the medical faculty in Paris. In 1892 he became a member of the

Académie de Médecine An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. He was also a member of the International Society for the History of Medicine. Duval is remembered for research involving

placental Placental mammals (infraclass Placentalia ) are one of the three extant subdivisions of the class Mammalia, the other two being Monotremata and Marsupialia. Placentalia contains the vast majority of extant mammals, which are partly distinguished ...

development in mice and rats, and was the first to identify

trophoblast The trophoblast (from Greek language, Greek : to feed; and : germinator) is the outer layer of cells of the blastocyst. Trophoblasts are present four days after Human fertilization, fertilization in humans. They provide nutrients to the embryo an ...

invasion in

rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

. With Austrian-American

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

Walter Schiller (1887–1960), Schiller Duval bodies are named, which are structures found in

endodermal Endoderm is the innermost of the three primary germ layers in the very early embryo. The other two layers are the ectoderm (outside layer) and mesoderm (middle layer). Cells migrating inward along the archenteron form the inner layer of the gastru ...

sinus tumors.

Selected writings

* ''Sur la structure et usages de la rétine''. Thesis for agrégé- 1873 * ''Manuel du microscopie''. 1873, second edition- 1877. * ''Précis de technique microscopique et histologique, ou introduction pratique à l’anatomie générale''. (with an introduction by Charles-Philippe Robin). Paris, J.-B. Baillière et fils, 1878. 315 pages. * ''Précis de l'anatomie à l'usage des artistes'', 1881. * ''Leçons sur la physiologie du système nerveux'', 1883. * ''Le placenta des rongeurs.'' Journal de l'anatomie et de la physiologie normales et pathologiques de l'homme et des animaux, Paris, 1891, 27: 24–73, 344–395, 513–612. * ''Le placenta des rongeurs''. Paris,

Felix Alcan Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

, 1892. * ''Précis d'histologie'', Paris, 1897, 1900. * ''Histoire d'anatomie plastique: les maîtres, les livres et les échorchès'', (With Edouard Coyer). Paris: Picard & Kann, 1898.

Honors

In 1897, Duval was named an honorary member of the

American Association for Anatomy The American Association for Anatomy (AAA), is an international scientific society of Biomedical research, biomedical researchers and educators committed to advancing anatomical science through research, education, and professional development. ...

References

''Mathias-Marie Duval''
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duval, Mathias-Marie 1844 births 1907 deaths People from Grasse Academic staff of the University of Paris French anatomists French histologists

Biography

Selected writings

Honors

See also

References