Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers and the creation of the Laboratoire de zoologie expérimentale, Roscoff, France

Abstract

Sixty-three marine stations were created around the world in the 19th century, mainly starting 1870. The history of most stations is still poorly known, with a few exceptions. The history of the creation of the Laboratoire de zoologie experimentale at Roscoff (Brittany, France), which is now called the Station biologique, is presented, focusing on the first five years (1872-1877). The creation of the station is analyzed in relation to the scientific formation of its founder, Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, and replaced within a broader scientific and historical context. From 1852 to 1870, Lacaze-Duthiers spent most of his summertime doing research in an improvised but functional laboratory that he transported along the coasts of Europe. One of the reasons that prompted Lacaze-Duthiers to open his itinerant laboratory to visitors in 1872 was the necessity to train a new generation of French zoologists. Originally created as an itinerant station, Lacaze-Duthiers’s Laboratoire was permanently installed in Roscoff in 1876. Also, it is shown that the first and quite unusual name of the station, Laboratoire de zoologie experimentale, was selected by Lacaze-Duthiers to defend a certain vision of zoology against Claude Bernard’s praise of experimental physiology. The influence of Auguste Comte’s positivist philosophy on experimentation in biology is also discussed. Beyond theoretical debate, it is shown that Lacaze-Duthiers was a pioneer for the study of living animals in their habitat, and that the station at Roscoff played a critical role in the development of marine biology in France: Lacaze-Duthiers’s former students created and directed most of the French marine stations in the last quarter of the 19th century. Finally, questions of general interest on the emergence of marine stations starting 1870 are briefly discussed.