Debate as Scientific Practice in Nineteenth-Century Paris: The Controversy Over the Microscope

Abstract

This article explores debate as a key scientiªc practice among the medical elite in nineteenth-century Paris, with an emphasis on academic debate and debate in the scientiªc/medical press. I use the debate over the microscope, which took place in the Paris Academy of Medicine in 1854-55 and concurrently in the medical press, to illustrate the role of debate as scientiªc practice. Focusing on the debate in the press, I show how medical journalists used the debate in the Academy to raise larger questions about the nature of science and medicine and to legitimate French microscopy. I suggest that debate was an important scientiªc practice in nineteenth-century Paris, not only owing to a longstanding belief that truth emerges through disputation but also depending on and exemplifying a shared masculine culture of honor.

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The changing landscape of gynaecological cancer diagnosis: implications for histopathological practice in the 21st century

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