[A German physician in Paris: Wilhelm Behn (1808-1878). A report on a previously unpublished diary from 1834]

Recently discovered personal notes of the German physician Wilhelm Behn, anatomist and physiologist give impressions of his stay in Paris (1834) as a medical student. At that time this town was the "Mecca of world medicine" where the predominance of physical and natural sciences and the persistence of the spirit of Enlightenment stopped that of "Naturalphilosophie". Among Behn's many acquaintances we can note those of Dupuytren, Flourens, Poiseuille, the professors of the Museum, the lecturers at the Académie des Sciences, etc. Some of his remarks give a correction to a too stiff image of his masters. Nodier and Chevreul inspired him for his zoophysiological researches. A pleasant note is given by the evocation of contemporary Parisian life with its distractions such as theaters, horse-races and restaurants.