Mathias-Marie Duval was a French professor of anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 and histology

Histology

Histology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It is performed by examining cells and tissues commonly by sectioning and staining; followed by examination under a light microscope or electron microscope...

 born in Grasse

Grasse

-See also:*Route Napoléon*Ancient Diocese of Grasse*Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department-External links:*...

. He was the son of botanist Joseph Duval-Jouve

Joseph Duval-Jouve

Joseph Duval-Jouve was a French botanist born in Boissy-Lamberville. He was the father of histologist Mathias-Marie Duval ....

 (1810-1883).

He studied medicine in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and later served as prosector

Prosector

A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and pathology....

 in Strassburg. In 1873 he became agrégé, subsequently becoming director of the anthropological laboratory at the École des Hautes Etudes, anatomy professor at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and in 1885 he replaced Charles-Philippe Robin

Charles-Philippe Robin

Charles-Philippe Robin was a French anatomist, biologist, and histologist who was born in Jasseron, département Ain....

 (1821-1895) as professor of histology at the medical faculty. In 1892 he became a member of the Académie de Médecine.

Duval is remembered for research involving placental development in mice and rats, and was the first to identify trophoblast

Trophoblast

Trophoblasts are cells forming the outer layer of a blastocyst, which provide nutrients to the embryo and develop into a large part of the placenta. They are formed during the first stage of pregnancy and are the first cells to differentiate from the fertilized egg...

 invasion in rodents. With Austrian-American gynecologist Walter Schiller

Walter Schiller

Walter Schiller was an austrian-born American pathologist. He published primarily in the field of gynaecological cancer, and described Schiller's test and Schiller-Duval bodies.- Biography :...

 (1887-1960), Schiller Duval bodies

Schiller-Duval body

A Schiller–Duval body is a cellular structure seen by microscope in endodermal sinus tumors which are the most common testicular cancer in children. Schiller-Duval bodies are present in approximately 50% of these tumors, and if found are pathognomonic...

 are named, which are structures found in endodermal sinus tumors.

Selected writings

• Sur la structure et usages de la rétine. Thesis for agrégé, 1873
• Manuel du microscopie. 1873; 2nd edition, 1877.
• Précis de technique microscopique et histologique, ou introduction pratique à l’anatomie générale. (with an introduction by Charles-Philippe Robin). Paris, J.-B. Baillière et fils, 1878. 315 pages.
• Précis de l'anatomie à l'usage des artistes. 1881.
• Leçons sur la physiologie du système nerveux. 1883.
• Le placenta des rongeurs. Journal de l'anatomie et de la physiologie normales et pathologiques de l'homme et des animaux, Paris, 1891, 27: 24–73, 344–395, 513–612.
• Le placenta des rongeurs. Paris, Felix Alcan, 1892.
• Précis d'histologie, Paris, 1897, 1900.
• Histoire d'anatomie plastique: les maîtres, les livres et les échorchès, (With Edouard Coyer). Paris: Picard & Kann, 1898.