ABSTRACT
Charles Richet began to apply much of his energy to what others called spiritualism and the occult. He had intended that his final lecture to the students be dedicated to metapsychology but, at the dean's request, he agreed to devote it to a review of the work of his laboratory from 1881 to 1925, emphasizing its place in the history of physiology. Richet shared with Virchow his broad view of the science of man as representing the whole range of human endeavor and experience. For the most part Richet seems to have reconciled his own intellectual peregrinations with his broad view of physiology and his obligations toward mankind. Among the intellectual forebears of Charles Richet might be included Paracelsus, who early expressed the broad vision of clinical medicine held by Richet, recognizing especially the importance of chemistry. Richet held the materialistic view that thoughts and emotions are to be found in the physio-chemical machinery of the brain.
