Marie Philibert Constant Sappey

Biography of Marie Philibert Constant Sappey

Marie Philibert Constant Sappey studied in Paris and became doctor of medicine in 1843. Subsequently he was agrégé for the surgical sciences and chief of anatomical works, before he commenced lecturing in anatomy in 1860. When the chair of anatomy was vacated he was called to the professorship of this discipline, succeeding Jean-François Jarjavay (1815-1868). He held this position from 1868 to 1886.

Sappey was elected to the Academy of Medicine in 1862, and in 1887 became its president. Sappey is rightly considered one of the most prominent French anatomists of the 1900th century. Particularly important are his description of the lymphatic vessel system. His anatomical preparations were highly valued, as were his literary works.

In 1874 he published his comprehensive atlas, including an anatomic study of cutaneous lymphatic drainage. Before Sappey, several attempts had been made to make the lymphatic vessels visible. The Dutch anatomist Anton Nuck (1650-1692) had devised a method of injecting mercury into the lymphatic vessels. Two hundred years later, Sappey refined this procedure. He injected mercury into the skin of cadavers and defined demarcation lines that passed down the midline front and back, and along a horizontal line around the waist at the level of the umbilicus anteriorly, and to the level of the L2 vertebra posteriorly. Sappey's results demonstrated lymphatic drainage based on anatomic location. Sappey's work was continued by Henri Rouviere (1876-1952).