Marie Phisalix

Phisalix was part of the Jurassic separatism movement.[2] She was born in Besançon, the daughter of Camille Joséph Picot and Marie Josephine Dalloz.[3] From 1882, she studied at the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles, which had recently been established.[2][4] She qualified in 1889, where she taught herself and worked toward a medical degree.[2] She was one of the first French women to become a doctor of medicine. She defended her thesis Histological, embryological and physiological research on the venom glands of the terrestrial salamander in 1900.[5] Phisalix began to work on snake venom antidotes, and won a prize for her doctoral research on reptile and amphibian venoms.[2] She identified that venom function is not adapted to attack or defence.[2]

In 1910, Phisalix joined the National Museum of Natural History, where she led the laboratory of ichthyology and herpetology. She was interested in the biological role of venom function.[2][6] She studied the comparative anatomy of the organs that create venom as well as the pathology of their delivery. She became interested in how venom was presented in different species.[2] She focused on lower vertebrates, higher vertebrates with natural immunity as well as parasitic protozoa.[2] She studied the blood and tissue of lower vertebrates and their venom and anti-venom.[2] She showed that the production of venom, which is accompanied by natural immunity, is a defense strategy.[2]

Phisalix was a feminist, who served as the Vice President of the Association for the Improvement of the Status of Women.[5] She led the 1945 meeting of the French League for the Rights of Women.[5]

Phisalix was married to Césaire Phisalix, a French biologist.[2]