Rudolf Virchow

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Dr. R.L.K. Virchow

Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow (born October 13, 1821, in Pomerania; died September 5, 1902, in Berlin) was a German doctor, anthropologist, public health activist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician.

1 Scientific Career
2 Political career
3 Consult
4 Reference
5 External links

[edit] Scientific Career

From a farming family of relatively modest means, Virchow studied medicine in Berlin at the military academy of Prussia on a scholarship. When he graduated in 1842 he went to serve as Robert Froriep's assistant at the Berlin Charité rather than the expected military service. He became professor in 1847. Due to political reasons, he moved to Würzburg two years later, where he worked on anatomy. In 1856, he returned to Berlin as a professor of anatomic pathology (a chair created just for him) at Berlin University and the Berlin Charité where he had previously worked as Froriep's assistant. One of major contributions to German medical education was to encourage the use of microscopes by medical students and was known for constantly urging his students to 'think microscopically'.

Virchow is credited with multiple significant discoveries. He is cited as the first to recognize leukemia. However, he is perhaps best known for his theory Omnis cellula e cellula ("every cell originates from another existing cell like it.") which he published in 1858. (The epigram was actually coined by François-Vincent Raspail but popularized by Virchow.) This relates to his findings that not the whole organism, but only certain cells or groups of cells can become sick.

Another significant credit relates to the discovery, made approximately simultaneously by Virchow and Charles Emile Troisier, that an enlarged left supra-clavicular node is one of the earliest signs of gastrointestinal malignancy, commonly of the stomach, or less commonly, lung cancer. This has become known as Virchow's node and simultaneously Troisier's sign.

Virchow is also famous for elucidating the mechanism of pulmonary thromboembolism, thus coining the term embolism. He noted that blood clots in the pulmonary artery originate first from venous thrombi, stating: "The detachment of larger or smaller fragments from the end of the softening thrombus which are carried along by the current of blood and driven into remote vessels. This gives rise to the very frequent process on which I have bestowed the name of Embolia." Related to this research, Virchow has been attributed a triad describing the factors contributing to venous thrombosis, Virchow's triad.

Furthermore, Virchow founded the medical disciplines of cellular pathology, comparative pathology (comparison of diseases common to humans and animals), and anthropology. His very innovative work may be viewed as sitting between that of Morgagni whose work Virchow studied, and that of Paul Ehrlich, who studied at the Charité while Virchow was developing microscopic pathology there.

Rudolph Virchow, by Hugo Vogel

In 1869 he founded the Society for anthropology, ethnology and prehistory (Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte) which was very influential in coordinating and intensifying German archaeological research.

In 1892 he was awarded the Copley Medal.

He was a very prolific writer. Some of his works are:

Mittelheilungen über die Typhus-Epidemie, (1848)
Die Cellularpathologie, (1858), English translation, (1860)
Handbuch der speciellen Pathologie und Therapie, (1854-62)
Vorlesungen über Pathologie, (1862-72)
Die krankhaften Geschwülste, (1863-67)
Gegen den Antisemitismus, (1880)

He also developed a standard method of autopsy procedure, named for him, that is still one of the two main techniques used today.

More than a laboratory physician, Virchow was an impassioned advocate for social and political reform, stating that physicians should act as "attorneys for the poor." His views are evident in his "Report on the Typhus Outbreak of Upper Silesia (1848)," writing that the outbreak could not be solved by treating individual patients with drugs or with minor changes in food, housing, or clothing laws, but only through radical action to promote the advancement of an entire population. [1] He is widely regarded as a pioneer of social medicine. [2]

He is frequently quoted by the humanitarian physician Paul Farmer. Farmer states: "Virchow had a comprehensive vision. Pathology, social medicine, politics, anthropology - my model."[3]

[edit] Political career

Virchow also worked as a politician (member of the Berlin City Council, the Prussian parliament since 1861, German Reichstag 1880-1893) to improve the health care conditions for the Berlin citizens, namely working towards modern water and sewer systems. Virchow is also credited with the founding of "social medicine", frequently focusing on the fact that disease is never purely biological, but often, socially derived. As a co-founder and member of the liberal party (Deutschen Fortschrittspartei) he was an important political antagonist of Bismarck.

One area where he co-operated with Bismarck was in the Kulturkampf, the anti-clerical campaign against the Catholic Church^[1] claiming that the anti-clerical laws bore "the character of a great struggle in the interest of humanity".^[2]. It was during the discussion of Falk’s May Laws (Maigesetze) that Virchow first used the term ^[3]

Virchow was respected in masonic circles^[4], and according to one source^[5] may have been a freemason, though no official record of this has been found.

[edit] Consult

Becher, Rudolf Virchow, Berlin, (1891)
J. L. Pagel, Rudolf Virchow, Leipzig, (1906)

[edit] Reference

A biography of Virchow at Whonamedit.com, including phenomena named after him

Virchow, RLK (1978) Cellular pathology. 1859 special ed. ,204-207 John Churchill London, UK.

^ "This anti-Catholic crusade was also taken up by the Progressives, especially Rudolf Virchow, though Richter himself was tepid in his occasional support." Authentic German Liberalism of the 19th Century by Ralph Raico
^ "The term came into use in 1873, when the scientist and Prussian liberal statesman Rudolf Virchow declared that the battle with the Roman Catholics was assuming “the character of a great struggle in the interest of humanity.”" from Kulturkampf. (2006). Britannica Concise Encyclopedia . Retrieved March 25, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica
^ A leading German school teacher, Rudolf Virchow, characterized Bismarck's struggle with the Catholic Church as a Kulturkampf - a fight for culture - by which Virchow meant a fight for liberal, rational principles against the dead weight of medieval traditionalism, obscurantism, and authoritarianism." from The Triumph of Civilization by Norman D. Livergood and "Kulturkampf \Kul*tur"kampf`\, n. [G., fr. kultur, cultur, culture + kampf fight.] (Ger. Hist.) Lit., culture war; - a name, originating with Virchow (1821 - 1902), given to a struggle between the Roman Catholic Church and the German government" Kulturkampf in freedict.co.uk
^ "Rizal's Berlin associates, or perhaps the word "patrons" would give their relation better, were men as esteemed in Masonry as they were eminent in the scientific world--Virchow, for example." in JOSE RIZAL AS A MASON by AUSTIN CRAIG, The Builder Magazine, August 1916 - Volume II - Number 8
^ "It was a heady atmosphere for the young Brother, and Masons in Germany, Dr. Rudolf Virchow and Dr. Feodor Jagor, were instrumental in his becoming a member of the Berlin Ethnological and Anthropological Societies." From Dimasalang: The Masonic Life Of Dr. Jose P. Rizal By Reynold S. Fajardo, 33° by Fred Lamar Pearson, Scottish Rite Journal, October 1998