Jean Francois Fernel (1497-1558), French physician. Fernel, the son of an innkeeper, lived in Paris and became personal physician to King Henry II of France. His 1554 textbook dealt systematically with physiology, pathology and treatment, and was a standard work for over a century, with many editions and translations. Fernel was also court physician to Catherine de Medici. He introduced the term physiology to describe the study of the body's function, and was the first to describe the spinal canal. Lithograph from 'Galerie medicale' (1825-1829), a collection of portraits by Pierre Roch Vigneron (1789-1872).