Marie-Jean-Léon Lecoq, Baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys (5 May 1822–2 November 1892, Paris), was a French sinologist and man of letters, and one of the earliest oneirologists (specialists in the study of dreams).
Hervey de Saint Denys made an intense study of Chinese, and in 1851 published his Recherches sur l'agriculture et l'horticulture des Chinois (French: Research on the agriculture and horticulture of the Chinese), in which he dealt with the plants and animals that potentially might be able to be acclimatized to and introduced in Western countries. He translated Chinese texts as well as some Chinese stories not of classical interest but valuable for the light they throw on Chinese culture and customs. He also translated some Spanish-language works, and wrote a history of the Spanish drama.
More recently (see the works of Stephen LaBerge, Carolus den Blanken, Paul Tholey e.o.), Hervey de Saint Denys has begun to be known for his introspective studies on dreams. He wrote down his dreams on a daily basis from the age of 13.(On page 4 of his work 'Les Reves et les Moyens de Les Diriger' the anonymous author stated that he was in his fourteenth year when he started his dreamwork). In 1867, he anonymously published Les rêves et les moyens de les diriger; observations pratiques (French: Dreams and the Ways to Direct Them: Practical Observations). In this book, he proposed techniques to control dreams, and he described dreams in which the "dreamer is perfectly aware he is dreaming". This particular state of consciousness later came to be called lucid dreaming.
At the Paris Exhibition of 1867, Hervey de Saint Denys acted as commissioner for the Chinese exhibits. In 1874 he succeeded Stanislas Julien in the chair of Chinese at the Collège de France, while in 1878 he was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et de Belles-Lettres. He died in Paris on the November 2, 1892.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.