In the history of medicine, there are not many of its servants who have created promising theories that have revolutionized the knowledge system. It is precisely such a reformer that Virchow Rudolph, a German pathologist, is rightfully considered to be. Medicine, after his cellular theory saw the light, began to understand the pathological process in a new way.
Training, doctorate and foundation of the journal
Rudolph Virchow was born in 1821, in the city of Schiffelbein, in Prussia (today it is Svidvin, Poland). His father was a small landowner. At the age of 16, Virchow Rudolph became a student at the Berlin Medical Institute. He graduated from this educational institution in 1843. After 4 years, when he was only 26 years old, Virkhov received his doctorate. At this time, he worked as a prosector of one of the largest hospitals in Berlin. At that time, Rudolf Virkhov founded a scientific journal called the Archive of Pathological Anatomy. He immediately gained great fame in Europe, and also played an important role in the development of knowledge in the field of medicine in the 19th century.
Report on the situation in Polish villages
It is curious that even in his youth, during his trip to Upper Silesia, the purpose of which was to eliminate the causes of the "hungry" typhus that reigned there, Rudolph Virchow visited Pszczyna, Rybnik, Raciborz, as well as a number of surrounding villages. After that, he created a report where he vividly depicted the sanitary backwardness and poverty of the local Polish population. Rudolph demanded an improvement in the living conditions of these people, the organization of education and medical assistance. He published this report in a journal whose editor he was.
Cytology Research
In 1843, after defending his doctoral dissertation, Rudolph began to study cellular materials. Virchov did not leave the microscope for days on end. The work carried out with great enthusiasm threatened him with blindness. As a result of his labors, he discovered in 1846 glia cells (the brain consists of them).
When Virchow had just begun his scientific work, cytology, that is, the science of cells, was developing rapidly. Researchers are convinced that degenerative cells can often be found in healthy organs of animals. At the same time, in tissues almost completely destroyed by the disease, there are healthy ones. Virchow on this basis began to assert that the sum of the activity of the cells that make up the body is its activity as a whole. It was a new look at its functioning. Only the cell acts as the bearer of life, as Rudolf Virchow believed. His cellular theory is very interesting. A disease, according to Virchow, is also life, but proceeding under changed conditions. We can say that this is the essence of the teachings of Rudolph. He called it cellular pathology. Rudolf Virchow proved that any cell can only form from some other.
The foundation of the school of physiologists
At the age of 28, in 1849, Virchow began to lead the Department of Pathology, located in Würzburg. And a few years later he was invited to Berlin. In the German capital Virchow spent the rest of his life. He is considered the founder of a school of physiologists who believed that the body is the sum of independent cells, and his life is the sum of their lives. Virchow, therefore, looked at the body as something divided into parts that have their own existence.
Proceedings of Virchow
In 1847, Virchow received the title of privat-docent. After that, he went headlong into pathological anatomy. The scientist began to clarify the changes that occur with various diseases in the material substrate. He gave very important descriptions of the microscopic picture of diseased tissues. The scientist examined 26,000 corpses with a lens. He generalized his scientific views in 1855. He published them in the article "Cellular Pathology" in his journal. Thus, in 1855, Rudolf Virchow proved that new cells are formed by dividing the mother cell. He noted that all cells have a similar structure. In addition, in 1855, Rudolf Virchow proved that they are homologous, since they have a similar structural plan and a common origin.
His theory in 1858 came out as a separate book, consisting of two volumes. Then his systematic lectures were published. In them, for the first time, in a certain order, a characteristic of the main pathological processes, examined from a new angle, was given. For a number of processes, a new terminology was introduced, which has been preserved today ("embology", "thrombosis", "leukemia", etc.). Virchow created many works on general biological topics. He wrote works on the epidemiology of infectious diseases. Many articles of this scientist are devoted to the autopsy methodology, pathological anatomy. In addition, he is the author of the theory of continuity of the plasma of the embryo.
Criticism of the works
Note that the general theoretical views of this scientist met with a number of objections. This was especially true of the "personification of the cell," that is, the notion that a complex organism is a "cell federation." In addition, the scientist laid out the sum of life units in "districts and territories", which was at variance with Sechenov's ideas about the role of the nervous system, which carries out regulatory activities. Sechenov believed that the Virkhov detached a separate organism from the environment. The disease, he believed, cannot be regarded only as a violation of the vital functions of a particular group of cells. But S.P. Botkin was a fan of Virkhov's theory.
The role played by Virchow's theory in the development of medicine
This scientist believed that diseases are the result of conflicts that occur within the "cell society". Despite the fact that the fallacy of this theory was proved back in the 19th century, it nevertheless played a large role in the development of medicine. Thanks to her, scientists were able to understand the causes of many diseases, for example, the mechanism of the appearance of cancerous tumors, which to this day are the scourge of mankind. In addition, Rudolph's theory explains the causes of various inflammatory processes and the role that white blood cells play in them.
Political activity of Virchow
Not only a great scientist, but also a politician was Rudolf Virchow. His biography is marked by a number of achievements in this field. He fought for progress in sanitary hygiene and in medicine. In 1862, he became a member of parliament. Rudolph has initiated a series of reforms in the area of social security and hygiene. For example, the construction of a sewer in the city of Berlin is his merit. This was absolutely necessary at that time, since only in 1861 about 20 thousand people died from cholera.
Activities of Rudolph during the Franco-Prussian War
During the Franco-Prussian War, which lasted from 1870 to 1871, Rudolf Virchov organized field hospitals in small barracks . He tried to do so in order to exclude large concentrations of the wounded, since this posed a threat to the incidence of hospital fever. In addition, it was Virkhov who had the idea of organizing ambulance trains designed to evacuate the wounded. Rudolf Virchow in 1880, as a member of the Reichstag, was an ardent opponent of the policies pursued by Bismarck. In 1902, he died, having lived to be 81 years old.
Until now, the name of the "father of the cellulary theory", who is Rudolf Virchow, has not been forgotten in science. His contribution to biology allows him to be considered one of the best scientists of his time.