In 1843 he graduated from the Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelm Medical Institute, then worked at the famous Berlin Charité clinic. In 1847 he founded the journal “Archive of Pathological Anatomy and Physiology” (now known as the Virchow Archive). In 1848 he participated in the liberation movement, but did not interrupt his scientific activities. At the same time he headed the department of pathological anatomy at the University of Würzburg. In 1856-1902 he served as director of the newly established Pathological Institute in Berlin.
In 1855, in his journal “Archive...” he published an article “Cellular Pathology”, and in 1858, under the same title, a book in which he argued that the cell theory should be extended from the field of histology and normal physiology to pathology (hence the disease of the body - this is a disease of its constituent cells), that the Schleiden-Schwann theory of cell formation is erroneous, since cells arise only through reproduction - division, that the greatest importance in the life of cells is not their shell, as was then believed, but the contents, i.e. protoplasm and core. But along with this, Virchow’s teaching also contained erroneous statements. Thus, he believed that cells are independent individuals, and thereby came to deny the integrity of an organism built from cells, taking it as a sum of autonomous units. This approach of the scientist had a negative impact on the development of medicine, since diseases of various organs were often treated in isolation from the condition of the body as a whole.
Virchow's cell theory quickly spread and became generally accepted in both biology (morphology and physiology) and medicine. His work “Cellular Pathology” was immediately translated into many languages (its Russian translation was published in 1859).
In 1858, the scientist published his theory of cellular pathology, which was based on the physiological independence of each individual cell. Despite the fallacy of some of the provisions, Virchow's work significantly advanced cell theory and laid the foundation for numerous research in medicine.
The theory of “Continuity of Germ Plasma” is also associated with the name of the scientist. Continuity, as the scientist argued, exists only between germ cells, because only they have the germ plasm, which is invariably transmitted to the offspring in the process of heredity; all other cells of the body play the role of a kind of “case” for the germ plasm.
Denying the theory of evolution and the teachings of Darwin, Virchow tried to refute the facts known in his time related to human evolution. He classified the fossil remains of primitive people (Pithecanthropus, Neanderthal, etc.) as pathological forms.
Virchow is also known for his work on the study of diseases caused by deprivation and hunger, for his participation in the establishment of hospitals, schools, etc. Social and political activities occupied a large place in his life, he took an active part in the municipal government of Berlin, was repeatedly elected as a member of parliament, with whose tribunes spoke on the most pressing socio-political issues. Russian medical scientists especially owe a lot to Virchow and his institute.
Bibliography of medical works
Of Virchow's individual works, in addition to special works and small brochures, the following are especially famous:
- “Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur wissenschaftl. Medicin" ();
- "Untersuchungen über die Entwicklung des Schädelgrundes" ();
- “Die Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begründung auf physiol. und pathol. Gewebslehre" ();
- "Die krankhaften Geschwülste" (1863-1867);
- "Vier Reden über Leben und Kranksein" ();
- "Lehre von den Trichinen" ();
- "Ueber einige Merkmale niederer Menschenrassen" (); * “Gräberfeld von Koban im Lande der Osse ten” (Berlin, );
- “Gesammelte Abhandl. aus dem Gebiete der öffentl. Medicin und der Seuchenlehre" ().
Wed. S. M. Lukyanova: “R. Virchow and his vitalism" (Warsaw,), I. V. Bertenson, "R. Virchow as a hygienist” (“Bulletin of Public Hygiene”, Jan.).
Archaeological activities
V.'s anthropological research led him to archaeological research, which he carried out throughout Germany and other European countries. He has works on urns, on the Bronze Age, on mounds, on pile buildings, etc. In the year he participated in the famous excavations of Schliemann, and as a result his works appeared: “Zur Landeskunde der Troas” (Berlin,; in Russian: “The Ruins of Troy” in the “Historical Bulletin”, No. 2) and “Alttrojanische Gräber und Schädel” (Berlin, ).
Political activity
Virchow was brought to the political path not by a thirst for fame, but by a humane feeling. During the trip to Upper Silesia mentioned above, he became convinced that “doctors are the natural advocates of the poor, and a large part of the social question falls within their jurisdiction.” Since then, science and politics have gone parallel for Virchow, uniting into one whole in the field of public medicine. To promote the development of sanitary affairs, he began to take part in elected city institutions. Virchow's efforts in this regard were crowned with complete success. The German governments heeded his eloquent admonitions and began to gradually implement his plans for the sanitary sector. Thanks to his tireless activity, Germany and especially its cities little by little achieved the high degree of perfection in sanitary terms at which they stood by the 1890s. Berlin especially owed him a lot, in the municipal government of which he participated with the city.
These include his writings:
- "Kanalisation oder Abfuhr" (Berlin, );
- "Reinigung und Entwässerung Berlins" (Berlin, 1870-1879);
- "Die Anstalten der Stadt Berlin für die öffentliche Gesundheitspflege" (Berlin, ).
Along with his participation in city government, there is his activity in parliament, where, again, sanitary issues were, as it were, his personal specialty; but he also took a very prominent part in the discussion of general political issues. Elected to the Prussian Diet immediately upon his return from Würzburg, in the same year he became one of the founders and leaders of the progressive party, which subsequently united with the secessionists and turned into a party of free thinkers. This party owes its influence on the course of affairs to a large extent to Virchow, his unwavering firmness in convictions, his tireless activity and the impeccable purity of his name, which slander never dared to touch. During the famous conflict between the Prussian government and the Diet (1862-1866), Virchow was one of the main leaders of the opposition.
After the creation of the German Empire, Virchow withdrew from the political arena for a while. The loud victories of German weapons did not captivate him; he did not believe in the beneficence of the empire, which had united the German people with iron and blood. “I am not fit now,” he told the deputations of voters who repeatedly asked him to accept parliamentary powers, “to represent the country; Given her current mood, I have nothing to do in parliament. Maybe I will live to see the time when the people will need my voice again; then I will appear if he calls me, but now not.” This time came in the early 1880s, at the height of the reactionary policies of the prince. Bismarck. Then Virchow first entered the imperial parliament as a deputy from the city of Berlin and since then occupied one of the first places in the party of free thinkers.
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Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow Rudolf Virchow (1821 1902) Date of birth: October 13, 1821 Place of birth: Swidwin (Pomerania) Date of death ... Wikipedia
VIRCHOV- VIRCHOV, Rudolf (Rudolf Virchow, 1821 1902), the greatest scientist of the 19th century, pathologist reformer, founder of modern pathology, an outstanding anthropologist and prominent social and political figure of his time. In 1843, after graduating from medical school. int Friedrich... ... Great Medical Encyclopedia
- (Rudolf Virchow) one of the outstanding German scientists of the second half of the 19th century and at the same time a political figure. He was born on October 13, 1821 in the town of Schiefelbein, Prussian province of Pomerania. Having completed a course at the Berlin Medical... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
- (1821 1902) German pathologist, foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1881). He put forward the theory of cellular pathology, according to which the pathological process is the sum of disturbances in the vital functions of individual cells. Described the pathomorphology and... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
1) all living organisms (plants and animals) consist of cells;
2) plant and animal cells are similar in structure, chemical composition and functions.
Rudolf Virchow
(1821-1902)
Matthias Schleiden
(1804-1881)
Theodor Schwann
(1810-1882)
M. Schleiden and T. Schwann believed that cells in the body arise through neoplasm from a primary non-cellular substance.
In 1858, the German anatomist Rudolf Virchow in his book “Cellular Pathology” refuted this idea and proved that new cells always arise from previous ones by division - “cell from cell, everything living only from a cell” - (omnis cellula a cellula) . An important generalization by R. Virchow was the statement that the greatest importance in the life of cells is not the membranes, but their contents - protoplasm and nucleus. Based on the cell theory, R. Virchow put the doctrine of diseases on a scientific basis. Having refuted the prevailing idea at that time, according to which diseases are based only on changes in the composition of body fluids (blood, lymph, bile), he proved the enormous importance of the changes occurring in cells and tissues. R. Virchow established: “Every painful change is associated with some pathological process in the cells that make up the body.” This statement became the basis for the emergence of the most important section of modern medicine - pathological anatomy.
Virchow was one of the founders of the study of life phenomena at the cellular level, which is his indisputable merit. However, at the same time, he underestimated the research of the same phenomena at the level of the organism as an integral system. In Virchow's view, an organism is a state of cells and all its functions are reduced to the sum of the properties of individual cells.
In overcoming these one-sided ideas about the body, the works of I.M. Sechenov, S.P. Botkin and I.P. Pavlov were of great importance. Domestic scientists have proven that the body represents the highest unity in relation to cells. The cells and other structural elements that make up the body do not have physiological independence. Their formation and functions are coordinated and controlled by the entire organism using a complex system of chemical and nervous regulation.
A radical improvement in all microscopy techniques allowed researchers by the beginning of the 20th century to discover the main cellular organelles, elucidate the structure of the nucleus and patterns of cell division, and decipher the mechanisms of fertilization and maturation of germ cells.
In 1876, Eduard Van Beneden established the presence of a cell center in dividing germ cells.
In 1890, Richard Altmann described mitochondria, calling them bioblasts, and put forward the idea that they could reproduce themselves.
In 1898, Camillo Golgi discovered an organelle named the Golgi complex in his honor.
In 1898, chromosomes were first described by Karl Benda.
A major contribution to the development of the study of the cell in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. contributed by domestic cytologists I.D. Chistyakov (description of the phases of mitotic division), I.N. Gorozhankin (study of the cytological basis of fertilization in plants), S.G. Navashin, who discovered in 1898. the phenomenon of double fertilization in plants. Advances in the study of cells have led biologists to increasingly focus their attention on the cell as the basic structural unit of living organisms.
A qualitative leap in cytology occurred in the 20th century. In 1932, Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invented the electron microscope, which provides a magnification of 106 times. Micro- and ultramicrostructures of cells invisible in a light microscope were discovered and described. From this moment on, the cell began to be studied at the molecular level.
Thus, advances in cytology are always associated with improvements in microscopy techniques.
Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) - German pathologist and public figure, one of the outstanding doctors of the 19th century. He became the founder of the modern concept of pathological processes, using cell theory to explain the consequences of diseases in the organs and tissues of the body. Virchow emphasized that diseases do not arise in them, but in their cells. In addition, he actively advocated social reform and contributed to the development of anthropology as a modern science.
Rudolf Virchow: biography
Born 10/13/1821 in Schiefelbein, Pomerania, (now Swidwin, Poland) in the family of farmer and city treasurer Karl Christian and Johanna Maria Virchow. The boy was the best student in the class and was going to become a pastor, but decided to become a doctor because his voice was too weak. Having received a scholarship for poor gifted children wishing to become military surgeons, in 1839 he began studying medicine at the Friedrich Wilhelm Institute of the University of Berlin and received his medical degree in 1843. While completing an internship at the Charité university clinic, Virchow studied pathological histology and in 1845 published a paper in which he described one of the first two cases of leukemia. He was appointed prosector at the Charité and in 1847, with his friend Benno Reinhard, founded a new medical journal. After Reinhardt's death in 1852, Rudolf Virchow became the publication's sole editor. “Pathological Anatomy and Physiology and Clinical Medicine” was edited by him until his death.
Revolutionary and reformer
In early 1848, the Prussian government assigned Virchow to investigate outbreaks of typhus in Upper Silesia. In his report, he blamed social conditions and authorities. The latter did not like it, but he had to deal with the revolution of 1848 in Berlin. Eight days after his return from Silesia, Virchow was already fighting on the barricades. At the end of the revolution, he advocated the reform of medicine and the abolition of the official ranks of doctors and surgeons, and from July 1848 to June 1849 he published the weekly newspaper “Medical Reform,” a significant part of which he personally prepared. His liberal views caused the government to remove him from his position at the Charité on March 31, 1849, but two weeks later he was reinstated with the loss of some privileges.
Outstanding pathologist
Later, in 1849, Rudolf Virchow was appointed to the newly established chair of pathological anatomy at the University of Würzburg, the first such position in Germany. In seven years, the number of medical students at the university increased from 98 to 388. Many who later achieved fame in the field of medicine studied with him. In 1850 he married Rosa Mayer, who bore him three sons and three daughters. In Würzburg, Virchow published many medical works. The publication of his 6-volume “Handbook of Special Pathology and Therapy” began here. In Würzburg, Virchow also began to formulate a theory of cellular pathology and anthropological work, examining the abnormal skulls of individuals suffering from cretinism (neonatal hypothyroidism) and the development of the skull base.
Politician
In 1856, the Department of Pathological Anatomy was created for Virchow at the University of Berlin. He agreed to a number of conditions, one of which was the construction of a new institute, in which he worked for the rest of his life. For most of the second Berlin period, the German scientist was actively involved in politics. In 1859 he was elected to the Berlin city council, where he focused on public health issues such as sewerage, hospital design, meat inspection and school hygiene. He oversaw the design of Berlin's two new major hospitals, opened a nursing school, and developed a new city sewer system.
In 1861 Rudolf Virchow was elected a member of the Prussian parliament. He founded the Progressive Party and was a determined and tireless opponent of Otto von Bismarck, who in 1865 challenged him to a duel, which he wisely declined. During the wars of 1866 and 1870. Virchow was involved in the construction of military hospitals and equipping ambulance trains. During the Franco-German War, he personally accompanied the first ambulance train to the front. From 1880 to 1893 he was a member of the Reichstag.
Medical research
In 1848, Virchow refuted the generally accepted opinion that phlebitis (inflammation of the veins) causes most diseases. He showed that masses in blood vessels form as a result of thrombosis, and that parts of the thrombus can break away to form an embolus. The latter may ultimately end up in a narrower vessel and cause serious damage to adjacent tissues.
Virchow began to create the concept of cellular pathology in Würzburg. Until the second half of the 18th century, diseases were considered the result of an imbalance of the four vital juices of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile). This was a “humoral pathology” that dates back to the ancient Greeks. In 1761, the Italian anatomist Giovanni Battista Morgagni showed that diseases were not the result of an imbalance of fluids, but a consequence of damage to internal organs. In 1800, the French anatomist Marie-François-Xavier Bichat found that the body consists of 21 different types of tissues, and came to the conclusion that only a few of them could be affected in a diseased organ. Later events in the complex history of the theory's formation took place during Virchow's youth.
Rudolf Virchow: his contribution to biology
In Würzburg, he realized that one version, which postulated the origin of each new cell from pre-existing ones rather than from amorphous material, could provide new insight into pathological processes. He was pushed to this conclusion by many other creators of the cell theory. John Goodsir of Edinburgh, for example, considered this elementary unit of the body to be the center of nutrition. And the German neuroanatomist and embryologist Robert Remak in 1852 was one of the first to notice that the cause of tissue formation is cell division. He came to the conclusion that new cells are formed from existing ones, both in diseased and healthy tissues. Previous originators of the cell theory, however, did not have much influence on pathologists and physicians. Thus, Virchow’s idea about the origin of each cell from an already existing one is not entirely original. But even this aphorism does not belong to him, but was invented by Francois-Vincent Raspail in 1825. Nevertheless, Virchow managed to attract the attention of the scientific community to cellular pathology. The basic principles of the theory were given in a series of 20 lectures in 1858 and published in 1858 in the book “Cellular Pathology Based on Physiological and Pathological Histology,” immediately revolutionizing scientific thought in the field of biology.
Virchow's attitude to bacteriology was complex. He resisted the idea that bacteria cause disease, rightly arguing that the presence of certain microorganisms in a patient with a certain disease does not always indicate that the former are the cause of the latter. Long before the discovery of toxins, he suggested that individual bacteria could produce them. Although it is sometimes said that the German scientist was an opponent of Charles Darwin's theory, he accepted it as a hypothesis, but later spoke of the lack of sufficient scientific evidence to allow it to be fully accepted.
Works on anthropology
In 1865, Rudolf Virchow discovered pile buildings in Northern Germany, and in 1870 he began excavating fortifications. He also used his enormous influence in anthropology. In 1869 he became one of the founders of the German Anthropological Society, and in the same year he founded the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory, heading it from 1869. During this time he also edited the journal Ethnology.
In 1874, Virchow met the discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann, and accompanied him to Troy in 1879 and to Egypt in 1888. Largely thanks to Virchow, Schliemann donated his collection to Berlin. In 1881 and 1894 he personally made an expedition to the Caucasus. The scientist organized German anthropology.
In 1873, Rudolf Virchow was elected a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He refused to be addressed as "von Virchow", but in 1894 he became a Privy Councilor.
German pathologist, anthropologist.
In 1858 Rudolf Virchow published a book in 2 volumes: Cellular Pathology / Die Cellularpathologie, where he proposed to consider any organism as “a set of living cells organized like a state,” and any disease process as a consequence of changes in the vital activity of the elementary parts of the body - its cells. Here the thesis was introduced into scientific circulation: "Omnis ceilula e cellula"- a cell comes only from a cell, which put an end to the debate about the possibility of spontaneous generation of organisms...
"Before work Virchow views on the disease were primitive and abstract. A-priory Plato, “disease is a disorder of the elements that determine the harmony of a healthy person,” Paracelsus put forward the concept of the “healing” power of nature (via medicatrix naturae) and considered the course and outcome of the disease depending on the outcome of the struggle between pathogenic forces and the healing forces of the body. In the era of ancient Roman culture, C. Celsus believed that the occurrence of disease was associated with the impact on the body of a special pathogenic idea (idea morbosa). The essence of the disease was seen in a violation of the harmony of the body caused by the action of spirits (“archaea”) residing in the stomach ( Paracelsus), disrupting metabolism and enzyme activity (van Helmont) and mental balance (Stahl).”
Shoifet M.S., 100 great doctors, M., “Veche”, 2008, p. 282.
« Virchow attacked the “humoral theory”, which explained the development of diseases by “damage to the juices” of the body. A few years earlier, in 1838, the scientist’s compatriots Matthias Schleiden And Theodor Schwann have already formulated a theory about the cellular structure of all living organisms.
But exactly Virchow first declared that the essence of the disease lies in pathological changes in the tissue cells of a particular organ, supporting his revolutionary theses with data obtained in the pathological-anatomical laboratory.
Virchow first stated that the essence of the disease lies in pathological changes in the cell.
Virchow and his associates were convinced that they had found the right direction in their research. To promote advanced scientific views, they needed their own scientific journal, but to “struggle for principles and methods against schools and authorities” they needed money...
Despite the criticism of his opponents, Virchow’s career went uphill: in 1846 he was appointed prosector, and in 1847 he became an assistant professor at the university. Both young and more experienced scientists flocked to his “circle.”
Among them soon was the elderly Berlin doctor Siegfried Reimer, who was so carried away by Virchow's research that he convinced his brother Georg, a successful businessman and bookseller, to start publishing a new magazine.
This is how the first issue of the “Archive of Pathological Anatomy, Physiology and Clinical Medicine” was published. Very quickly, the journal, which still exists today under the name “Virchow Archive,” acquired the reputation of the most advanced medical publication in Germany, and the name of the young scientist who headed it gained unprecedented popularity.”
Malyaeva A., Pathological rebellion, magazine “Machines and Mechanisms”, 2013, N 8, p. 53.
Considering that demonstrations are very important when training doctors, Rudolf Vikhrov created the Museum of Pathological-Anatomical Preparations, which by the end of his life numbered 23.000 exhibits and is still the largest collection of its kind in the world...
« Virchow was elected to the Diet - the Prussian parliament, where he founded the Progressive Party. His straightforwardness in political matters even brought him to a duel with the chancellor Otto von Bismarck!
The fight, however, ended in a peculiar way.
Seconds came to Virchow, and the scientist chose as a weapon... two identical sausage sticks, claiming that one of them was infected with deadly bacilli. “His Excellency may do me the honor of choosing and eating one of them. I’ll eat another one!” - he explained to the seconds. The chancellor refused the duel."
Malyaeva A., Pathological rebellion, magazine “Machines and Mechanisms”, 2013, N 8, p. 55.
