Physicians from Montpellier

Léopold Nègre (15 June 1879 – 29 July 1961) was a French physician and biologist born in Montpellier.
He studied natural sciences at the University of Montpellier, followed by courses in microbiology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. From 1907 to 1910, he served as préparateur at the laboratory of microbiology courses headed by Amédée Borrel (1867–1936). In 1910, he obtained his doctorate of medicine. Following an internship at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, he was appointed laboratory chief (microbial analysis) at the Pasteur Institute in Algiers. In 1918 he received his doctorate of natural sciences.
In 1919, he was assigned to the laboratory of tuberculosis headed by Albert Calmette (1863–1933) at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Here he took part in research of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG vaccine). With microbiologist Alfred Boquet (1879–1947) he developed antigene méthylique (methyl antigen) for treatment of tuberculosis.In 1931, Nègre became chair at the Institut Pasteur, and in 1944 was named vice president of the Société de biologie. He was also president of the Société française de la tuberculose (1950) and a member of the Académie de Médecine (hygiene section, from 1951).

Joseph Grasset (18 March 1849 – 7 July 1918), was a French neurologist and parapsychological investigator, born in Montpellier.He received his medical degree (1873) in Montpellier, where in 1881 he became a professor of therapy. In 1886, he attained the chair of clinical medicine, and in 1909 was appointed chair of general pathology.Grasset was involved in every aspect of internal medicine, but his primary interest concerned diseases of the nervous system. His name is associated with the "Grasset law", 'a condition where a patient with hemiparesis lying on his back can raise either leg separately, but is unable to raise both legs together.':649 This phenomenon is explained in his 1899 treatise, Diagnostic des maladies de la moëlle.He conducted studies in the field of psychiatry, publishing the book Demi-fous et Demi-responsables (Semi-Insane and the Semi-Responsible) in 1907, and also researched the paranormal, publishing works with titles such as Le spiritisme devant la science (1904) and L’occultisme hier et aujourd'hui (1907).His book L’occultisme hier et aujourd'hui was translated into English as The Marvels Beyond Science in 1910. Grasset took a psychological approach to psychical research and attributed mediumship to deliberate trickery or unconscious suggestion.