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Claude Bernard's experimental medicine
Experience or authority?
Claude Bernard leading an experiment
French physiologist Claude Bernard publishes An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine. The book is written in the first person. Bernard uses cases from his own practice to illustrate experimental procedure and scientific reasoning in medicine. He argues against custom and authority as guides to sound decision-making, insisting that a theory disproved by experiment must be abandoned forthwith. Bernard’s work becomes itself a customary and authoritative guide to the provision of medical care.