Rudolf Virchow with skeletons
Science Photo Library
At the Charité Hospital he studied pathological histology and in 1845 published a paper describing one of the earliest reported cases of leukaemia. He became hospital anatomist, and in 1847 he and Dr Benno Reinhardt started a new journal Virchow’s Archives which still goes on as a leading pathology journal. He asked students to use microscopes and had a major impact on medical education in Germany. He taught several men who became famous scientists, including William Welch & William Osler, 2 physicians who founded Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Dr Virchow was appointed by the Prussian government to investigate a typhus epidemic in Upper Silesia; his strong report blamed the outbreak on social conditions that were tolerated by the government. The government was annoyed, but it had to deal with the revolution in Berlin! After the 1848-9 Revolution, Virchow wrote and published a weekly paper, Medical Reform, but the government didn’t like his progressive views.
Having already established a reputation as a crusading social reformer, he’s since been identified as much with social medicine as pathology. His regular writings on topics of pathology included many essays and lectures on social medicine and public health. His writings and teachings recommended ways of improving people’s health by improving their economic and social conditions.
The doctor was soon appointed to the newly established Chair of Pathological Anatomy at Würzburg University, Germany’s first. During his successful years there, Virchow published many papers on pathological anatomy, and began publishing his 6-volume Handbook of Special Pathology and Therapeutics (1854). He also began to formulate his theories on cellular pathology with studies of the abnormal skulls of those affected by neonatal hypothyroidism.
The doctor was soon appointed to the newly established Chair of Pathological Anatomy at Würzburg University, Germany’s first. During his successful years there, Virchow published many papers on pathological anatomy, and began publishing his 6-volume Handbook of Special Pathology and Therapeutics (1854). He also began to formulate his theories on cellular pathology with studies of the abnormal skulls of those affected by neonatal hypothyroidism.
Dr Virchow giving a Pathology lecture
Science Photo Library
Virchow disliked the majority view that phlebitis of a vein caused most diseases; he demonstrated that masses in the blood vessels resulted from thrombosis and that portions of a thrombus could detach to form an embolus. An embolus set free in the circulation could be trapped.
Virchow’s greatest success was his observation that a whole organism does not get sick, only groups of cells. In 1855 at 34, he published his now famous aphorism every cell stems from another cell. Virchow thus launched the field of cellular pathology. He stated that all diseases involve changes in normal cells i.e all pathology ultimately is cellular pathology. This insight led to major progress in medicine. It meant that disease entities could be defined much more sharply. Diseases could be characterised not merely by a group of clinical symptoms but by typical anatomic changes.
In 1856 he was given the Chair of Pathological Anatomy established at Berlin Uni; and a new pathological institute was built which he used until retirement. His main statement of his cellular pathology theory was given in a lecture series in 1858 and published as his book Cellular Pathology as Based upon Physiological and Pathological Histology. Virchow lectured on the inflammatory process, introducing the modern conception of starchy degeneration. The pathology of tumours was important, as was his work on the role of animal parasites in causing disease in humans.
Interestingly Virchow became actively engaged in politics. In 1859 he was elected to the Berlin City Council, focusing on public health issues eg meat inspection and school hygiene. He supervised the design of two large new Berlin hospitals, opened a Nursing School and designed the new city sewer system. Then in 1861 he was elected to the Prussian Diet/Assembly under Otto von Bismarck. In the wars of 1866 and 1870, Virchow was involved in building military hospitals and equipping hospital trains. In 1874 the doctor introduced a standardised technique for performing autopsies, to examine the whole body in detail.
Dr Virchow supervised autopsies closely
ThoughtCo.
It was interesting that this talented doctor campaigned vigorously for social reforms and contributed to the development of anthropology and archaeology. These were Virchow’s main interests in 1865 when he discovered hill forts in Northern Germany. In 1869 he co-founded the German Anthropological Association and in 1870 he founded the Berlin Society of Anthropology, Ethnology & Prehistory and continued to edit its journal. And in 1873 Virchow was elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He excavated wall mounds in Wollstein with Dr Robert Koch in 1875 and edited Koch’s papers. [For his discovery of tuberculosis bacterium, Koch won a Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1905].
Pathologic anatomy had major practical consequences. If the physician was able to find out what anatomic changes had occurred in a patient, he could make a much more accurate diagnosis of the disease than he could previously. This also empowered physicians to give more precise treatment and prognosis. In his speeches Virchow advocated that medicine in Germany should a] study microscopic pathological anatomy, b] do research performed by physicians and c] make systematic clinical observations
Virchow’s many discoveries included finding cells in bone and connective tissue and describing substances eg myelin. He was the first to recognise leukemia and the first to explain the mechanism of pulmonary thromboembolism. He showed that blood clots in the pulmonary artery can originate from venous thrombi. While Virchow in Germany was creating the new science of cellular pathology, Louis Pasteur in France was developing the new science of bacteriology. Virchow and Pasteur’s germ theories were somewhat different.
Pathologic anatomy had major practical consequences. If the physician was able to find out what anatomic changes had occurred in a patient, he could make a much more accurate diagnosis of the disease than he could previously. This also empowered physicians to give more precise treatment and prognosis. In his speeches Virchow advocated that medicine in Germany should a] study microscopic pathological anatomy, b] do research performed by physicians and c] make systematic clinical observations
Virchow’s many discoveries included finding cells in bone and connective tissue and describing substances eg myelin. He was the first to recognise leukemia and the first to explain the mechanism of pulmonary thromboembolism. He showed that blood clots in the pulmonary artery can originate from venous thrombi. While Virchow in Germany was creating the new science of cellular pathology, Louis Pasteur in France was developing the new science of bacteriology. Virchow and Pasteur’s germ theories were somewhat different.
He served in the German Reichstag (1880–93) while also directing the Pathological Institute in Berlin. Even though Virchow was opposed to Bismarck’s excessive budget, which angered Bismarck sufficiently to challenge Virchow to a duel, Virchow helped to shape Bismarck’s health care reforms. Not bad for a pathologist, public health activist, social reformer, politician and anthropologist!
by Dr Joseph
neoclassical sculpture was created to honour Dr Virchow
by Fritz Klimsch from 1906,
On Karlplatz in Berlin-Mitte,
Wiki
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18 comments:
Virchow's teaching was still repeated to medical students this century. His work on cellular pathology still creates a basis for contemporary medicine eg infectious diseases and genetic disorders.
What a talented, clever man he was. He certainly led the way for the future.
I personally loved watching autopsies being performed.
Fellow Sydneysider :)
From my undergrad years, I remember him well. From his experience of post-mortem examinations of cadavers, Virchow published his method in a 1876 book. His book was the first to describe the techniques of autopsy, specifically to examine abnormalities in all organs one by one, and retain important tissues for further examination.
Margaret, Prof Virchow was certainly one of the cleverest medical man in modern history. I first discovered this when we were told he fluently spoke German, French, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English,, and less fluently in Dutch and Arabic.
Something I did not know was he introduced scientific terms like "chromatin", "agenesis", "parenchyma", "osteoid", "amyloid degeneration" and "spina bifida".
Read https://virchowlabs.com/zh/prof.-rudolph-virchow.html
Virchow’s fusion of science, social reform, and public service truly reshaped both medicine and society in ways that still resonate today
Roentare, Dr Virchow's contribution to medicine came from his innate intelligence and from his commitment to teaching. He endlessly lectured, included his students in hands-on anatomy procedures and wrote for academic journals. In fact he described one of the first two cases of leukemia in Archiv für pathologische Anatomie in 1845.
He was and impressive man. He's another example of great progress being made by someone stepping outside their safe box, leaving themselves open to criticism and pressure.
It boggles my mind how one person can be so clever in so many fields. He was a trailblazer.
he must have had great People skills to be able to "manage" Bismarck who was a seriously conservative individual and to be able to make all the changes that he did. A great man for sure .
diane, I thoroughly admired Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Ignaz Semmelweis and Robert Koch for their discoveries. But Rudolf Virchow made great discoveries _and_ worked for community health and welfare as well.
Andrew, Rudolf Virchow was elected to the Prussian House of Reps in 1862 and was a co-founder of the Progressive Party. He advocated for public health reforms and military hospitals during wartime, which Bismarck hated (amongst other things). Prof Virchow didn't retire from politics till 1893.
Bismarck couldn't afford to kill or exile a German hero like Prof Virchow so when he formally resigned as Chancellor in 1890, it was too late to end the "enemy professor's" political career.
Anon, the worst crisis came when Prof Virchow openly argued against Bismarck's non-handling of a potentially catastrophic cholera epidemic. Virchow was very brave tackling Bismarck, but the doctor understood that increasing the military budgets would not save Germany's beloved citizens.
Boa noite de quarta-feira. Obrigado pela excelente matéria. Realmente existem pessoas inteligentes e em muitas áreas. Eu por exemplo, nunca fiz uma grande aula de música. Creio que recebi um dom de Deus. Pois desde criança, por ser criado numa Igreja Batista, mesmo sem saber tocar algum instrumento musical. Meu ouvido é bom para música. Se eu ouvir um tom de alguma música, automaticamente sei que o tom está fora. Tem coisas que não se explicam. Você já nasce e levará para o resto da sua vida. Sou barítono e dependendo do tom da música faço tenor. Canto tanto em Mi e Sol. Obrigado pela excelente aula de história e música.
I remember reading just a bit about Virchow back in my college days. HE was much more than just the guy who studied cells though. Thanks for sharing Hels. I enjoyed learning more about this man.
Luiz
great talent in a particular area, especially music, is a true blessing. You are very fortunate.
But Dr Virchow was beyond great talent. He was brilliant in every study area he tackled - anatomy, cellular pathology, public health, politics, anthropology, foreign languages etc etc. He in turn thanked God by sharing his brilliance with his medical colleagues and medical students.
Erika, there were many great discoveries in 19th century sciences, but not all
them were well accepted and not all of them were still influential until modern days.
Dr Rudolf Virchow promoted the concept of socio-medical causation, emphasising the role of social and environmental factors. How very relevant was this concept in 20th century epidemics like Spanish Flu or the AIDS epidemic.
Those were a lot of ground breaking changes made by one person!
It's hard to imagine that the same person would be challenging anyone to a duel!
My grandfather was born in 1907 and it's hard to imagine that somebody I knew lived in a world were people were duelling and creating the autopsy procedure. These days duelling is unthinkable and I assumed the procedure for autopsy had been around forever.
kylie,
duels were intended to terrify, not to achieve justice. If Dr Virchow had been a professional wrestler or gunman, I doubt very much that Bismarck would have challenged the middle aged, besuited academic to a duel. Virchow's response was hilarious (using sausages as the weapons), which Bismarck did finally realise.
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