[Origins and evolution of experimental medicine]

Despite the fact that experiments in medicine have been performed since remote times - as attested by ancient authors, see for instance Galen - the complex system which is known as medicine is divided into the separate fields of clinical and experimental medicine. One hundred fifty years ago, Claude Bernard led to the birth of what we call still today experimental medicine; discussing the historical moment in which it is born, what it really is and, on the other hand, what is the meaning of the experiment in medical science: these all are very interesting methodological problems in the contemporary epistemological debate.