was without doubt that of Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow (commonly written
by him simply Rudolf Virchow). Although he took no direct part in any
of the striking advances in practice that appeal to the laity, yet he
was recognized the world over, among all classes of educated and
well-informed persons, as the one beacon light of Nineteenth-Century
medicine whose glow had been the steadiest and the most enduring. This
is because of the wide range of his learning in matters not pertaining
closely to his profession. His professional brethren hold the same view,
and this is because he so well controlled himself--checked himself at
every turn by the severest application of system--that he continued for
more than half a century an anchor to hold medical thought strictly down
to fact. This was from no natural lack of volatility, for he was an
_Acht-und-vierziger_ (Forty-eighter). In 1846, as a prosector in the
University of Berlin, Virchow entered with Reinhardt upon a series of
pathological investigations which at once received wide attention. In
conjunction with Reinhardt, he founded the _Archiv für pathologische
Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin_[6] (a periodical
familiarly called "Virchow's _Archiv_"), the publication of which was
begun in the year 1847. Reinhardt died in 1852, leaving the editorship
in the hands of Virchow alone, and he was still its editor up to the
time of his death, on September 5, 1902.
[Footnote 6: Archives of Pathological Anatomy and Physiology and of
Clinical Medicine.]
In consequence of his having openly proclaimed himself a Democrat in
1848, Virchow was forced to retire from the University of Berlin in the
following year. He was at once made a professor in the University of
Würzburg, whence seven years later, in 1856, as the result of the
strenuous interposition of various medical organizations, he was
recalled to Berlin, where he was made a professor and director of the
Pathological Institute. He was appointed medical privy councillor in
1874, having several years before that entered upon an active political
career and been one of the founders of the Progressive party, which he
ably represented in the Landtag and the Reichstag. In 1869 he took part
in founding the German and the Berlin Anthropological Societies, of each
of which he was several times president.
Virchow investigated the most diverse subjects, as his profound studies
of Schliemann's discoveries, as well as his other archaeological
researches, show, and he was a rather prolific writer. The most
important of his early works was _Die Cellularpathologie_, the first
edition of which was published in 1858. Chance's English translation
appeared in 1860, and Picard's French version came out in 1861. It is
safe to say that no book of the century exerted a profounder influence
on medical thought than Virchow's exposition of the cellular pathology.
His next notable publication was a collection of thirty lectures on
Tumors (_Die krankhaften Geschwülste_,[7] Berlin, 1863-67). That he was
not too absorbed in these lectures to bring his great powers to bear
upon topics of the day is shown by the fact that before their
publication was completed he brought out his work on Trichinae
(_Darstellung der Lehre von den Trichinen_, 1864). Old age found him
with industry and versatility unabated, for it was in 1892 that his
_Crania ethnica americana_ appeared, and after that time he wrote a
vigorous protest against the new-fangled spelling of the German language
which he accused the schoolmasters of trying to foist on the people.
This was published in his _Archiv_. It may well be that his arguments
have not been unavailing, since it is observable that several German
publications that had adopted the new spelling have now dropped it.
[Footnote 7: Morbid Tumors.]
It must not be supposed that it was by his literary work alone, founded
though it was manifestly on his profound study, that Virchow impressed
his personality upon medicine; it was in his lectures and in his
laboratory teaching, too, that he made himself felt. In all civilized
countries there are many devoted workers in medical science who caught
their first real inspiration from Virchow.
The writer once saw Virchow--only once, but it was a sight never to be
forgotten. It was at a banquet given as one of the festivities incident
to the annual meeting of the British Medical Association in London in
1873. The company was not a large one, but it included such celebrities
as Professor J. Burdon Sanderson, Sir William Jenner, Professor
Chauveau, and Professor Marey. Virchow was conspicuously the man toward
whom the eyes of all others were oftenest directed. Virchow met with the
love as well as the admiration of his contemporaries, and both
sentiments will descend to their successors, for his impress on the
records of medicine is indelible, both as an instructor and as a friend
of all real truth-seekers.
AUTHORITIES.
There is no full and connected account of the progress of medicine
during the Nineteenth Century, but the reader may consult with profit
the various medical biographies, also the following works: Silliman's "A
Century of Medicine and Chemistry;" Jenner's "The Practical Medicine of
To-day;" Buck's "Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences;"
Eulenburg's "Real-Encyclopädie der gesammten Heilkunde;" the "Annus
Medicus," published in the _Lancet_ at the close of each year; and
Tinker's "America's Contributions to Surgery" (Bulletin of the Johns
Hopkins Hospital, Aug.-Sept., 1902).