Auguste-Henri Forel



Auguste-Henri Forel (September 1, 1848 – July 27, 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist and psychiatrist, notable for his investigations into the brain structure of humans and ants.

Born in LaGracieuse, near Morges, Switzerland, he was a good friend of the eminent British entomologist Horace Donisthorpe, with whom he stayed in Switzerland in 1914, although his ardent socialist views frequently caused political arguments between the two.

His myrmecological five-volume magnum opus, Le Monde Social des Fourmis, was published in 1923. In it, Donisthorpe heavily criticises in the foreword to the 1927 edition of British Ants: their life histories and classification, saying of the work:


 * This, although in many ways a fine work, is somewhat disappointing in that it is not up to date, and that the opportunity has been made for airing the author's socialistic views. I should wish in particular to protest against the ants being employed as a supposed weapon in political controversy. In my opinion an entomological work is not the appropriate means for the introduction of political theories of any kind, still less for their glaring advertisement.

In the field of his psychiatric work he was also are great import, being a significant influence on Sigmund Freud. He was appointed professor of psychiatry in 1879 at the University of Zurich Medical School. He not only ran the Burghölzli asylum there, but continued to publish papers on insanity, prison reform, and social morality.

Forel suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right side in 1912, but he taught himself to write with his left hand and was able to continue his studies.

In 1920 he became a member of the Bahá'í Faith, out of respect for it social work and because it lacked "dogmas or priests." From 'Abdu'l-Bahá he received a letter about the differences between the mineral, vegetable, animal and human worlds, the spiritual nature of man and proofs of the existence of God.

He died in Yvorne at age 82.