[A female anatomist of the enlightenment: Marie Marguerite Biheron (1719-1795)]

Since a notice published in 1811 in the Biographie universelle of Michaud, it has been supposed that the famous "Mademoiselle Biheron" of the XVIIIth century, who made artificial anatomies and was especially admired by Diderot, had Marie Catherine as her Christian names. It was a mistake which would invalidate for almost two centuries all the researches on the biography of this anatomist and artist. No one even knew the date and the circumstances of her death. The author, having discovered her true names - Marie Marguerite -, realised many investigations on her and her family. He worked especially on notarian archives, both in Paris, where she was born, and in the north of the old Maine province (present Sarthe department), from which her father, who was a Parisian apothecary, originated. Also he recalls the essential part that this Marie Marguerite Biheron (1719-1795) played in the evolution of the ideas concerning the teaching and medical use of anatomical data. Her contribution in that field was one of those which prepared the important reforms which would take place at the end of the century, at the time of the Convention, conducting in particular to the development of modern surgery.