Marie François Xavier Bichat

Born Nov. 14, 1771, in Thoirette; died July 22, 1802, in Paris. French anatomist, physiologist, and physician.

Bichat studied at Montpellier, Lyon, and Paris. He worked as a physician in a Paris hospital from 1799 to the end of his life. Bichat created a scientific classification of tissues, which, according to his theory, unite into systems (for example, bones and muscles) and form organs of the body. The terms “tissue” and “system” were first introduced into medicine by Bichat. According to Bichat, the totality of systems and their elementary functions constitute the life processes of the body. In his Weltanschauung, Bichat was an idealist who believed in the presence of a life-force which is unknowable and distinguishes the animate from the vegetable and inanimate.