Auguste-Henri Forel (French pronunciation: [oɡyst ɑ̃ʁi fɔʁɛl]; 1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and former eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. He is considered a co-founder of the neuron theory. Forel is also known for his early contributions to sexology and psychology. From 1978 until 2000 Forel's image appeared on the 1000 Swiss franc banknote.
Born in 1848 in a villa La Gracieuse, at Morges, on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, to Victor Forel (1823–1914) a pious Swiss Calvinist and Pauline Morin (1828–1890), a French Huguenot he was brought up in a protective household.
Auguste Forel was born in 1848 at Morges on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. His great uncle, who was an entomologist, introduced Forel to insect natural history when he was young. After reading a book by Pierre Huber, he became interested in ants.
He went to school at Morges and Lausanne. In 1866 he began his studies at the University of Zurich's medical school. While at medical school he continued to collect colonies of ants in order to study their physiology, biology, anatomy, systematic and even posology, as he experimented with the effect of some biochemical agents on them.
In 1871, he went to Vienna and studied under Theodor Meynert (1833-1892), where he did his first comparative study of the thalamus. Forel was disappointed by Meynert.
In Zurich, he was inspired by the work of Bernhard von Gudden (1824-1886). In 1873 he moved to Germany to assist Gudden at his Munich Kreis-Irrenanstalt. He improved upon various techniques in neuro-anatomy including modifications to Gudden's microtome design.
Forel had a diverse and mixed career as a thinker on many subjects.
In Zurich, he was inspired by the work of Bernhard von Gudden (1824-1886). In 1873 he moved to Germany to assist Gudden at his Munich Kreis-Irrenanstalt. He improved upon various techniques in neuro-anatomy including modifications to Gudden's microtome design.
In 1877, he described the nuclear and fibrillar organization of the tegmental region which is now known as Campus Foreli. He then became a lecturer at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München while also continuing his research on ants.
Forel realized from experiments that neurons were the basic elements of the nervous system. He found that the neuromuscular junction communicated by mere contact and did not require the anastomosis of fibres. This came to be called the Contact Theory of Forel.
The word "neuron" was coined by Wilhelm von Waldeyer who published a review of the work of Forel and others in 1891. Waldeyer synthesized ideas without actually conducting any research himself and published it in Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift a widely read journal which made him popular. Forel was very bitter about Waldeyer's achievement of fame that it is thought to have contributed to the decline in his interest in neuroanatomy and neurology.
Forel first described in 1877 the zona incerta area in the brain. He gave it this name as it a "region of which nothing certain can be said".
In 1879, he accepted an appointment as professor of psychiatry at University of Zurich Medical School. He was also assigned to the position of temporary director of the Psychiatric University Hospital Zürich asylum—the Burghölzli asylum, where he worked with only two other physicians treating 300 patients. He remained there for nineteen years, publishing papers on insanity, prison reform, and social morality. Burghölzli was very poorly run with corrupt staff and poor standards before Forel took over and converted to be among the best in Europe.
Les fourmis de la Suisse (1874)
Following a field trip to southern Switzerland in his early twenties, Forel wrote a 450-page essay, Les Fourmis de la Suisse, which was first published in a three part series in a Swiss scientific journal, beginning in 1874. It earned him the Schafli prize awarded by the Swiss Natural History Society. Forel sent Charles Darwin a copy of the essay when it was published as a book in 1874, and Darwin commended his work. The Paris Academy of Science also honored him with the Thore prize for the essay. His 1874 450-page treatise, was selected by scholars for its cultural importance—it is part of the knowledge base of civilization. Les Fourmis de la Suisse was commended by Charles Darwin. It was translated into English when it was reissued in 1890.
Sir J.A. Hammerton wrote a chapter entitled "The Senses of Insects: Auguste Forel", in his 1937 book, Outline of Great Books in which he praised Forel's 1874 "prize essay on the Ants of Switzerland". Hammerton said that it was "the most important contribution to insect psychology ever made by a single student...He made the senses and mental faculties of insects his chief study. His work on insects has served the study of human psychology, and is in itself perhaps the most important contribution to insect psychology ever made by a single student."
The Senses of Insects 1885 (1908)
In an experiment to better understand ant communication, in 1886, Forel removed the antennas of a large number of ants of different species, then placed them in a box in order to observe their behaviour. He found that the ants without antennae were no longer aggressive towards other ants, in marked contrast to ants with antennae. This confirmed his thesis that ants use their antennas to distinguish friend from foe. He published his findings in English in 1908 in The Senses of Insects. In a 2016 study described in the Smithsonian Magazine, the author cited Forel. The experiment was one of a series undertaken in the 1880s and published in German at that time. The 1908 English translation included several previously published studies on the subject.