René-Primevère Lesson
Encyclopedia
René Primevère Lesson (March 20, 1794 - April 28, 1849) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 surgeon
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

, naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, ornithologist, and herpetologist.

Lesson was born at Rochefort
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
Rochefort is a commune in southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime department.-History:...

, and at the age of sixteen he entered the Naval Medical School there. He served in the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

; in 1811 he was third surgeon on the frigate Saal, and in 1813 second surgeon on the Regulus.

In 1816 Lesson changed his classification to pharmacist and served as pharmacist and botanist on Duperrey's round-the-world voyage of La Coquille
La Coquille
La Coquille is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.La Coquille is located in the Périgord in a heavily wooded area with meadows surrounding the peaceful little village...

(1822–1825), and was also responsible for collecting natural history specimens with his fellow surgeon Prosper Garnot
Prosper Garnot
Prosper Garnot was a French surgeon and naturalist.Garnot was born at Brest. He was an assistant surgeon under Louis Isidore Duperrey on La Coquille during its circumnavigation of the globe . Along with Rene Primevere Lesson he collected numerous natural history specimens in South America and the...

 and officer Dumont d'Urville
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer, naval officer and rear admiral, who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.-Childhood:Dumont was born at Condé-sur-Noireau...

. Lesson was the first naturalist to see live birds of paradise in the Moluccas and New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

.

On returning to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, he spent seven years preparing the vertebrate zoological section of the official account of the expedition, Voyage au tour du monde sur La Coquille (1826–39). During this time he also produced Manuel d'Ornithologie (1828), Traité d'Ornithologie (1831), Centurie Zoologique (1830–32) and Illustrations de Zoologie (1832–35). He also produced several monographs on hummingbird
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...

s and one book on birds of paradise.

In the field of herpetology
Herpetology
Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

 he described many new species of amphibians and reptiles.

In 1832 he became Deputy Chief Pharmacist and later (1839) Chief Pharmacist for the Navy at Rochefort. He received the Légion d'honneur in 1847.

His experience as a ship's surgeon resulted in his two-volume Manuel d'Histoire Naturelle Médicale et de Pharmacologie (1833), intended as a handbook for all naval surgeons.

René Primevère Lesson is sometimes confused with his brother Pierre-Adolphe who was also a doctor and sailed with d'Urville in 1826.

External links

  • Gallica Digital versions of works by René Primevère Lesson. Several works Full bibliographic citation Recherche is the French for search.

  • Compléments de Buffon par P. Lesson.Paris :P. Pourrat Frères,1838. BDH

  • Histoire naturelle des zoophytes. Acalèphes par René-Primevère Lesson Paris,Librairie encyclopédique de Roret
    Nicolas Roret
    Nicolas-Edme Roret was a French editor and publisher known for an important series of manuals and encyclopaedias.- Sources :* Articles and reviews:...

    ,1843. BDH

  • Journal de la navigation autour du globe, de la frégate La Thétis et de la corvette L'Espérance, pendant les années 1824, 1825 et 1826 :publié par ordre du roi sous les auspices du Département de la marine par baron de Bougainville.Paris :A. Bertrand,1837. BDH

  • Species des mammifères bimanes et quadrumanes; suivi d'un mémoire sur les Oryctéropes Paris,J.B. Baillière,1840 BDH
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