PORTIER (Paul) - Lot 228

Lot 228
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PORTIER (Paul) - Lot 228
PORTIER (Paul) Bar-sur-Seine, 1866 - Paris, 1962. French zoologist and marine biologist. Autograph card signed "P. Portier", addressed to a friend. Bar-sur-Seine, no date. 2 pages in-12. Charming greeting card, both friendly and witty in tone, sent from Bar-sur-Seine, where Portier is staying for a few days. The author expresses his wishes for the New Year before evoking a recent Parisian encounter, humorously recalling the circumstances of a lecture given at the Schola Cantorum, attended by several confreres. The talk then turns pleasant and slightly mocking, with Portier returning to a risky comparison made by the lecturer between pterodactyls and the composer Ambroise Thomas, a comparison he deems "offensive to biologists", not without irony. This remark testifies to the scholar's quick wit and sense of repartee. An interesting document for its personal, light-hearted tone, revealing an intimate facet of a major scientist of the early 20th century. A collaborator of Charles Richet, Paul Portier took part in research on anaphylaxis and carried out important work on marine biology, notably at the Monaco Oceanographic Institute.
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