1908 deaths

Césaire Phisalix (8 October 1852, Mouthier-Haute-Pierre – 16 March 1906) was a French physician and biologist. He was the husband of Marie Picot Phisalix (1861–1946), an expert on venoms and venomous animals.He studied sciences at the Catholic college in Besançon and medicine in Paris, earning his medical doctorate in 1877. Later, he continued his studies at the military school in Val de Grâce with Alphonse Laveran, a future winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 1886, he was named deputy professor of zoology at the school of medicine and pharmacy in Besançon, and in 1888 was appointed director of travaux de zoologie at the faculty of Besançon. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Paris, where he served as a lecturer at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.In 1894, with biochemist Gabriel Bertrand, he developed an antivenom for treatment against snake bites. For his research of venom and venomous animals, he was awarded the "Prix Bréant" in 1898.

Walter Rudolf Leistikow (1865–1908) was a German landscape painter, graphic artist, designer and art critic.

Paul Matthieu Hermann Laurent (2 September 1841 in Luxembourg City – 19 February 1908 in Paris, France) was a French mathematician. Despite his large body of works, Laurent series expansions for complex functions were not named after him, but after Pierre Alphonse Laurent.

Julius Ludwig August Koch ( KOKH, German: [ˈjuːli̯ʊs ˈluːtvɪç ˈʔaʊɡʊst ˈkɔx]; 4 December 1841 in Laichingen, Württemberg – 25 June 1908 in Zwiefalten, Württemberg) was a German psychiatrist whose work influenced later concepts of personality disorders.Koch was born in the town of Laichingen in the state of Württemberg. His father was a general practitioner physician who headed his own private insane asylum.
Koch worked as a chemist for several years and then studied medicine in Tübingen from 1863 to 1867. He subsequently worked as a physician, later joining a psychiatric hospital. In 1874 he became director of the state mental hospital in Zwiefalten (Württemberg).Described as deeply rooted in a Christian faith, Koch's first works were philosophically-minded. In 1882 he published "Epistomological Investigations" (Erkenntnistheoretische Untersuchungen), and in 1885 "Outline of Philosophy" (Grundriss der Philosophie). In 1886 his "Reality and its Knowledge" (Die Wirklichkeit und ihre Erkenntnis) was an attempt to join the philosophy of Immanuel Kant with Christian theories.
Koch argued that the body and soul are part of the natural material world, while the mind (geist) is the way through which freedom, but also a moral claim by God, are exercised. He felt that philosophical trends against the Christianity of a nation would lead to afflictions and dangers. Overall his philosophy has been described as homespun and quite dogmatic, especially with regard to the religious elements.

Alix Joffroy (16 December 1844, in Stainville – 24 November 1908) was a French neurologist and psychiatrist remembered for describing Joffroy's sign. He studied in Paris, earning his doctorate in 1873, becoming médecin des hôpitaux in 1879 and agrégé in 1880. He worked at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital from 1885 and succeeded Benjamin Ball as professor of clinical psychiatry in 1893.
Jean-Martin Charcot encouraged him to study neurology, and together they demonstrated atrophy of anterior horn cells in the spinal cord in poliomyelitis in 1869.

Pierre-Victor or Pierre Victor Galtier ((1846-10-15)15 October 1846 – (1908-04-24)24 April 1908) was a veterinarian and professor at the National Veterinary School of Lyon, specialising in pathology of infectious diseases, health surveillance and commercial and medical legislation. He developed a rabies vaccine which had some experimental success in laboratory animals.

Dominique Clos (25 May 1821, Sorèze – 19 August 1908) was a French physician and botanist.
He studied medicine and sciences in Toulouse and Paris, obtaining his medical degree in 1845 and his PhD in natural sciences in 1848. In 1853 he succeeded Alfred Moquin-Tandon as professor of botany at the University of Toulouse, maintaining this position until his retirement in 1889. At Toulouse, he made major contributions to its botanical garden and herbarium. From 1881 to 1908, he was a correspondent-member of the Académie des sciences.
He was the author of numerous works on descriptive botany, plant teratology, phytogeography and agricultural botany. As a taxonomist, he described many species from various plant families. Taxa with the specific epithet of closianus are named in his honor' an example being Astragalus closianus.

Charles Edouard Chamberland (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl ʃɑ̃bɛʁlɑ̃]; 12 March 1851 – 2 May 1908) was a French microbiologist from Chilly-le-Vignoble in the department of Jura who worked with Louis Pasteur.

In 1884 he developed a type of filtration known today as the Chamberland filter or Chamberland-Pasteur filter, a device that made use of an unglazed porcelain bar. The filter had pores that were smaller than bacteria, thus making it possible to pass a solution containing bacteria through the filter, and having the bacteria completely removed from the solution. Chamberland was also credited for starting a research project that led to the invention of the autoclave device in 1879.

Louis van Waefelghem (13 January 1840, in Bruges – 19 June 1908, in Paris) was a Belgian violinist, violist and one of the greatest viola d'amore players of the 19th century. He also composed several works and made transcriptions for viola and viola d'amore.
Waefelghem was educated at the Athénée Royal in Bruges and then studied violin with Lambert Joseph Meerts at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels. After finding success as a violinist in Germany and at the Opera House in Budapest, he moved to Paris in 1863 to pursue a career as a performer on viola and viola d'amore. He played in the orchestra of the Paris Opera in 1868 and also in the Pasdeloup Orchestra. Waefelghem was Examiner of the Viola at the Conservatoire de Paris before Théophile Laforge was appointed the first Professor of Viola in 1894. His reputation as a gifted violist quickly spread and, after the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), he traveled to London where he played in the Royal Opera orchestra and at chamber concerts of the Musical Union with Joseph Joachim, Leopold Auer, Henri Vieuxtemps, Camillo Sivori, Pablo de Sarasate, and others. From 1875 he was the violist of the Quatuor Marsick, along with Guillaume Rémy, Jules Delsart and founder Martin Pierre Marsick, one of the best and most famous string quartets in Paris of the time. He also a member of the Quatuor Geloso and of Ovide Musin's quartet with Metzger and Vander Gucht. Waefelghem was the principal violist with the Orchestre Lamoureux from 1881 to 1895.
In 1895 Waefelghem, along with colleagues Laurent Grillet (hurdy-gurdy), Louis Diémer (harpsichord) and Jules Delsart (viola da gamba), founded the Société des Instruments Anciens. The ensemble gave their début at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on 2 May 1895 and performed throughout Europe with great success. Thereafter Waefelghem devoted himself entirely to the revival and study of the viola d'amore. He quickly became one of the greatest viola d'amore players of the 19th century, and being a highly enthusiastic researcher, restored to the world the complete library of music for the instrument which had sunk into oblivion.

Jadwiga Łuszczewska (pen name: Deotyma (Diotima); 1 July 1834 – 23 September 1908) was a Polish poet, novelist and salonniére. She was born and died in Warsaw.