Cloud Bernard was a French physiologist, meaning someone who studies the functions and mechanisms of living systems

who lived during the 19th century from 1813 until 1878. Bernard is perhaps most famous for his

work on the practice of science, removed from any particular focused field within the realm of scientific inquiry.

He was one of the first people to speak and write about using so-called blinded experiments

as a means of eliminating or limiting bias within those experiments, for instance.

He also coined the term interior milieu, which was the original name for the interstitial fluid that exists between our other cells.

And he's also pretty well known for developing the concept of homeostasis,

which is the state of balance and equilibrium that is achieved by living things at the biological level,

if they hope to continue living, at least.

Less noteworthy in the sense of being broad-reaching and vital for so many practices and

foundational concepts, but just as interesting in some ways is the fact that Bernard

accidentally and somewhat asymmetrically catalyzed the first ever popular fad diet, which was called

Banting. Banting was named after William Banting, a well-known undertaker, and at times

undertaker to the stars, to royalty, which is part of what made him so well known and allowed him to be so influential.

He was also obese until he began to limit his intake of starchy and sugary carbohydrates.

He changed his diet in this way after a doctor named William Harvey suggested he give it a shot,

and Dr. Harvey made that suggestion

based on some lectures that he had attended that were presented by Cloud Bernard, the homeostasis guy.

It turns out that in addition to being interested in how living creatures achieve biological

equilibrium, he was also quite interested in the glycogenic function of the liver,

which led him to discover its role in internal sugar production, which plays a role in the

emergence of diabetes. This insight, which was shared at those lectures, led Dr. Harvey to advise

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