Famous Freemason - Charles Robert Richet

"I never said it was possible. I only said it was true"

Charles Robert Richetwas a French physiologist at the Collège de France known for his pioneering work in immunology. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis". Richet devoted many years to the study of paranormal and spiritualist phenomena, coining the term "ectoplasm". He also was consummate racist who incorrectly believed in the inferiority of Black people, was a proponent of eugenics and presided over the French Eugenics Society towards the end of his life.

The Richet line of professorships of medical science would continue through his son Charles and his grandson Gabriel. Gabriel Richet was one of the great pioneers of European nephrology.

Richet, working with Paul Portier, discovered the phenomenon of anaphylaxis.In 1901, they joined Albert I, Prince of Monaco on a scientific expedition around the French coast of Atlantic Ocean. On board Albert's ship, Princesse Alice II, they extracted a toxin (which they called a hypnotoxin) that is produced by cnidarians such as Portuguese man o' war) and sea anemone (Actinia sulcata).

In their first experiment on the ship, they injected a dog with the toxin, expecting the dog to develop immunity (tolerance) to the toxin, but instead it suffered a severe immune reaction (hypersensitivity). In 1902, they repeated the injections in their laboratory and found that dogs normally tolerated the toxin at first injection, but when given subsequent injections three weeks later, they always developed fatal shock, regardless of the dose of the toxin they were given Thus, they discovered that the first dose, instead of inducing tolerance (prophylaxis) as they had expected, caused further doses to be deadly.

In 1902, Richet coined the term aphylaxis to describe the phenomenon; he later changed it to anaphylaxis because he thought it was more euphonious. The term is from the Greek ἀνά-, ana-, meaning "against", and φύλαξις, phylaxis, meaning "protection". On 15 February 1902, Richet and Portier jointly presented their experiments to the Societé de Biologie in Paris. Their research is regarded as the beginning of the scientific study of allergy (the word was coined by Clemens von Pirquet in 1906). It helped explain hay fever and other allergic reactions to foreign substances, asthma, certain reactions to intoxication, and certain cases of sudden cardiac death. Richet continued to study the phenomenon of anaphylaxis, and in 1913 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work.

Bro. Richet belonged to Lodge Cosmos under the Grand Lodge of France.