Revision of cell theory by R. Virkhov. The great reformer of medicine Virchow Rudolph: biography, scientific activity

There are not many of its servants who have created promising theories, revolutionized the system of knowledge. Virchow Rudolph, a German pathologist, is rightfully considered such a reformer. Medicine, after his cellular theory saw the light of day, began to understand the pathological process in a new way.

Teaching, doctoral degree and foundation of the journal

Virchow Rudolph was born in 1821, in Schiffelbein, Prussia (today it is Svidvin, Poland). His father was a small landowner. At the age of 16, Virchow Rudolf became a student at the Berlin Medical Institute. He graduated from this educational institution in 1843. 4 years later, when he was only 26 years old, Virkhov received his doctorate. During this time he worked as a dissector in one of the largest hospitals in Berlin. At the same time, Rudolf Virkhov founded a scientific journal called Archives 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 business trip to Upper Silesia, the purpose of which was to eliminate the causes of the "hungry" typhus that reigned there, Virchow Rudolph visited Pszczyna, Rybnik, Racibuzh, 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 care. He published this report in the journal he edited.

Research in the field of cytology

In 1843, after defending his doctoral dissertation, Rudolph began to study cellular materials. Virchow did not leave the microscope all day. The work done with great enthusiasm threatened him with blindness. As a result of his labors, he discovered in 1846 (the brain consists of them).

When Virkhov had just started his rapid development cytology, that is, the science of cells. Researchers have found that degenerative cells can often be found in healthy animal organs. At the same time, there are healthy tissues in the tissues that are almost completely destroyed by the disease. Virkhov, on this basis, began to assert that the sum of the activity of the cells that make up an organism is its activity as a whole. It was a new way of looking at how it works. Only the cell acts as the bearer of life, as Rudolf Virchow believed. its quite interesting. Disease, as Virkhov believed, is also life, but proceeding in 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.

Founding of the school of physiologists

At the age of 28, in 1849, Virchow became the head of the Department of Pathology, located in Würzburg. A few years later he was invited to Berlin. Virchow spent the rest of his life in the German capital. He is considered the founder of the school of physiologists, who believed that the body is the sum of independent cells, and his life is the sum of their lives. Virchow, thus, looked at the organism as something divided into parts that have their own existence.

Virchow's works

In 1847 Virchow received the title of assistant professor. After that, he plunged headlong into pathological anatomy. The scientist began to elucidate the changes that occur in various diseases in the material substrate. He gave very important descriptions of the microscopic picture of diseased tissues. The scientist examined 26 thousand corpses with a lens. He summarized 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 division of 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 structure plan and a single origin.

His theory in 1858 was published as a separate book, consisting of two volumes. At the same time, his systematized lectures were published. In them, for the first time, in a certain order, the characteristics of the main pathological processes, considered from a new angle of view, were given. For a number of processes, a new terminology was introduced, which has survived to this day ("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 methodology of autopsies, pathological anatomy. In addition, he is the author of the theory of the continuity of the plasma of the embryo.

Criticism of 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 idea that a complex organism is a "cell federation". In addition, the scientist laid out the sum of life units into "districts and territories", which was at odds with Sechenov's ideas about the role of the nervous system, which carries out regulatory activities. Sechenov believed that Virkhov separates a separate organism from the environment. The disease, he believed, cannot be regarded only as a violation of the vital functions of one or another group of cells. But S.P.Botkin was a fan of Virchow'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 "society of cells". Despite the fact that the fallacy of this theory was proven back in the 19th century, it still 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.

Virchow's political activities

Rudolf Virchow was not only a great scientist, but also a politician. His biography is marked by a number of achievements in this field. He fought for progress in hygiene and medicine. In 1862 he became a member of parliament. Rudolph initiated a number of reforms in the field of social security and hygiene. For example, the construction of a sewage system 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 here.

Rudolph's activities during the Franco-Prussian War

During the Franco-Prussian War, which lasted from 1870 to 1871, Rudolph Virchow organized in small barracks.He tried to do so to exclude large concentrations of the wounded, as this created a threat of hospital fever. In addition, it was Virkhov who came up with the idea of ​​organizing medical trains intended for the evacuation of the wounded. Rudolf Virchow in 1880, as a member of the Reichstag, was an ardent opponent of the policy pursued by Bismarck. He died in 1902, having lived to be 81 years old.

Until now, science has not forgotten the name of the "father of the cellular theory", which is Rudolf Virchow. His contribution to biology makes him one of the best scientists of his time.

"Basic provisions of cell theory" - Provisions of modern cell theory. R. Feynman. A mistake in theory. Matthias Schleiden. Electron microscope. Karl Baer. The history of the study of the cell. Electron microscopy. Theodore Schwann. Get acquainted with the history of the study of the cell. Verify the correctness of the test. Rudolf Virchow. Cell structure. Methods for studying cells. Robert Brown. Cytology. Jan Purkine. Cell center. The similarity of metabolism.

"Cell Research" - Ciliates. Cellular structure of plants. Numerous observations. Contribution to the study of the cell. Animal cells. There is no life outside the cell. Development of cell theory. Cell opening. Research methods. Cell division. Cells of plants and animals. Significance for solving diseases. Discovery history.

"Cytology" - Plasma membrane. Cell. Smooth and granular structure. Cell research methods. Cytology. Lysosomes. The history of the study of the cell. What is a cell. Cytoplasm. Deoxyribonucleic acids. Electron microscopy. Golgi complex. The provisions of the cell theory. Theodore Schwann. Cytophotometry. Development of cell theory. Brownian motion. The chemical composition of the cell. The nucleus in a plant cell.

"History of the study of cells and cell theory" - Cell theory. Cell center. Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek. Cell. Core. Goryaninov. Mitochondria. Schwann. The history of the study of the cell. German scientist. Endoplasmic reticulum. Cell structure. Lysosomes. Galileo Galilei. The provisions of the cell theory. Malpighi. Brown. Golgi apparatus. Nuclear shell.

"History of Cell Study" - How the blood moves in the fin of a fish. The Cell: A History of Study. Cytology is the science that studies the structure, function and evolution of cells. Differential centrifugation. The cell is the basic structure and functional unit of life. Cell theory. Robert Hooke in 1665 first described the structure of the bark of the cork oak. Schwann proceeded from the discovery of M. Schleiden. Russian scientist P.F. Goryaninov. In 1831 R. Brown discovered the nucleus in the cell sap.

"Magnifying devices" - Electron microscope. Levenguk microscopes. Handheld magnifier. Permission. Microscope. Modern magnifying devices. Tripod magnifier. Light microscope. Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek. Galileo Galilei. The invention of the magnifying glass. Appearance. The magnifying glass was invented by the Englishman Roger Bacon. Levenguk's microscope. Magnifying devices. The so-called became widespread. Microscope Galileo Galilei. Magnifier. Microscope by Robert Hooke.

1) all living organisms (plants and animals) consist of cells;
2) the cells of plants and animals are similar in structure, chemical composition and functions.

Rudolf Virchow
(1821-1902)

Matthias Schleiden
(1804-1881)

Theodore Schwann
(1810-1882)

M. Schleiden and T. Schwann believed that cells in the body arise by neoplasm from a primary non-cellular substance.

In 1858, the German anatomical scientist Rudolf Virchow in his book "Cellular Pathology" refuted this idea and proved that new cells always arise from the previous ones by division - "a cell from a cell, all living things only from a cell" - (omnis cellula a cellula) ... An important generalization of R. Virkhov was the statement that the most important in the vital activity of cells are not the membranes, but their contents - the protoplasm and the nucleus. Based on the cellular theory, R. Virkhov put the doctrine of diseases on a scientific basis. Having refuted the notion prevailing 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 changes in cells and tissues. R. Virkhov established: "Any 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.

Virkhov was one of the founders of the study of the phenomena of vital activity at the cellular level, which is his undisputed merit. However, at the same time, he underestimated the study 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 proved that the body is the highest unity in relation to the 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 whole organism with the help of a complex system of chemical and nervous regulation.

By the beginning of the 20th century, a radical improvement in the entire technique of microscopy allowed researchers to discover the main cellular organelles, find out the structure of the nucleus and the patterns of cell division, and decipher the mechanisms of fertilization and maturation of germ cells.

In 1876, Edward Van Beneden established the presence of a cell center in dividing germ cells.

In 1890, Richard Altman described mitochondria, calling them bioblasts, and put forward the idea of ​​the possibility of their self-reproduction.

In 1898, Camillo Golgi discovered an organoid named after him by the Golgi complex.

In 1898, chromosomes were first described by Karl Benda.

A major contribution to the development of the theory 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 foundations of fertilization in plants), S.G. Navashin, who discovered in 1898. the phenomenon of double fertilization in plants. Advances in the study of the cell led to the fact that the attention of biologists increasingly focused on the cell as the main structural unit of living organisms.

A qualitative leap in cytology took place in the 20th century. In 1932, Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invented the electron microscope with a magnification of 106 times. Micro- and ultramicrostructures of cells invisible under a light microscope were discovered and described. From that moment on, the cell began to be studied at the molecular level.

Thus, advances in cytology are always associated with improvements in microscopic techniques.

VIRKHOV Rudolph

VIRKHOV Rudolph(Virchow Rudolf, 1821 -1902) - German pathologist and politician, one of the founders of scientific medicine, the creator of the scientific system known as "cellular pathology".

In 1843 he graduated from honey. f-t Berlin un-that and at the same time defended doct. dissertation.

Since 1846 - a dissector at the Charite hospital (Berlin). Since 1847 - Associate Professor at Berlin University. In 1848 he was sent to Silesia to study the typhoid epidemic; Based on the materials collected during the trip, he formulated his views on the pathology and epidemiology of infectious diseases and noted the importance of social factors in their spread. In 1849, R. Virkhov, as an active participant in political events (the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1848-1849), was forced to leave Berlin un-t and moved to Würzburg, where until 1856 he headed the department of pathological anatomy of the university; in 1856 he returned to Berlin and until the end of his life he headed the department of pathological anatomy and general pathology at Berlin University and at the same time was the director of the Institute of Pathology.

In 1847 R. Virkhov founded the journal "Archives of Pathological Anatomy, Physiology and Clinical Medicine", in which his scientific works were published (the journal is still published under the name "Virchows Archiv fur pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und fur klinische Medizim").

Published ca. 1000 scientific works of R. Virkhov dedicated to hl. arr. characteristics and pathogenesis of common pathological processes and major human diseases. Already in his early works, he expressed the idea that a number of pathological processes are based on morfol, changes in tissue cells, and not in blood and lymph, as the representatives of the humoral direction prevailing in pathology believed. Based on the data of his subsequent studies, he formulated the theory of cellular pathology (see), which he outlined in the works "Cellular pathology" (1855) and "Cellular pathology as a doctrine based on physiological and pathological histology" (1858). This theory covered all aspects of the body's life and was the logical development of the cell theory (see), intensively developed in the first half of the 19th century. R. Virkhov, using the structural principles of the structure of organisms, creatively applied them to explain pathological processes and believed that the material substrate of the disease is the cell - the main structural unit of a complex organism, its first morfol, stage. He wrote that all pathology is the pathology of the cell, that it is the tangible substrate of pathological physiology, the cornerstone in the stronghold of scientific medicine. Proceeding from the basic principles of cellular pathology, R. Virkhov gave a new characteristic and a new analysis of the essence of pathological processes, introduced a number of new terminological designations, a significant part of which has survived in modern medicine. He laid down the principles of morfol, a method in pathology, the development of which continues continuously.

The theory of cellular pathology quickly gained universal acceptance and had a huge impact on the subsequent development of honey. science. Cellular Pathology has been published in many countries around the world. In Russia it was first published in extracts (1858, 1859) by A.I. Polunin.

The general theoretical provisions of cellular pathology were criticized from different positions during the life of the author. Many of them, as contradicting the doctrine of an integral organism, were rejected, at the present time, they have only historical interest.

R. Virkhov devoted many works to teaching pathological anatomy, autopsy techniques, general organization of dissection, and the history of medicine. In medicine, he persistently pursued the idea of ​​the unity of theory and practice and believed that practical medicine is applied ("angewandte") theoretical medicine; emphasized the need for close contact of the pathologist with the clinic and laid the foundations for the clinical and anatomical direction in pathology, which received universal recognition and further development in the scientific and practical activities of pathologists and clinicians. R. Virkhov attached great importance to the humanism of a physician and considered unreasonable and dangerous therapeutic experiments on a person unacceptable, regarding them as a crime against logic and morality.

R. Virkhov is the author of numerous works on general biology, anthropology, ethnography and archeology. Together with G. Schliemann, he participated in the excavations of Troy and developed a systematization of human skulls on the basis of craniometry.

R. Virchow took an active part in the social and political life of Germany. He is one of the founders and leaders of the bourgeois liberal Progressist Party (1861), which represented the left wing of the bourgeois opposition to the Bismarck government; after the formation of the Free-Thinking Party (1884) - one of its leaders; from 1862 a member of the Prussian Landtag and the German Reichstag (1880-1893). Attaching great importance to medicine as a social science, R. Virchow in the first period of his political activity was a persistent and active advocate of social reforms aimed at improving the material living conditions of the population of Germany; on the basis of his scientific epidemiols, studies pointed out the importance of social factors in the spread of many diseases and persistently sought to carry out a number of dignity. - gigabyte. activities.

After the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871), which caused a sharp rise in German chauvinism, and especially after the Paris Commune (1871), R. Virchow took the position of extreme reaction and clericalism. In particular, he demanded to prohibit the teaching of Darwinism in schools, since, in his opinion, evolutionary theory carries the ideas of socialism.

R. Virkhov was the founder of it. scientific society of pathologists, following the example of which the existing similar societies were organized in almost all countries of the world. His institute was an attractive school for pathologists and clinicians around the world, including Russians. In 1897, as a participant in the XII International Congress of Physicians, he was in Moscow and visited a number of other cities in Russia. R. Virkhov's services to world science were universally recognized during his lifetime. He was elected an honorary member of scientific societies and academies in almost all countries.

The name of R. Virkhov occupies an honorable place among the brilliant representatives of him. of the people, as noted in the resolution of the SED Plenum of October 4, 1949.

Compositions: Handbuch der speziellen Pathologie und Therapie, Bd 1 - 6, Erlangen, 1854 - 1865 u. Bd 2-6, Erlangen, 1864-1874 (Hrsg.); Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur wissenschaftlichen Medicin, Frankfurt A.M., 1856; Die Cellularpathologie, B., 1858, 1859, 1862 u. 1871 (Russian translation, St. Petersburg, 1871, M., 1885); Die Krankhafte Geschwtilste, Bd 1-2, B., 1863-1865; Gesammelte Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der offe-ntlichen Medicin und der Seuchenlehre, Bd 1-2, B., 1879; Trombose und Embolie, Lpz., 1910.

Bibliography: Abrikosov A. Rudolf Virchow (to the 100th anniversary of his birth), Med. zhurn., vol. 1, no. 10-12, p. 631, 1921; Weil S.S., R. Virkhov and modern pathology, in the book: Medicine and dialektic. materialism, c. 2, p. 139, M., 1927; Davydovsky IV On the centenary of "cellular pathology" by Rudolf Virkhov, Arch. patol., t. 18, No. 5, p. 3, 1956; Sakharov G. P. Rudolf Virkhov and Russian medicine (to the centenary of his birth), M., 1922; Fedorovsky G. Row of great physicians, trans. from Polish, p. 72, Warsaw, 1972; Ackerknecht E. II. Rudolf Virchow, doctor, statesman, anthropologist, Madison, 1953; B a c e r J. R. The celltheory, a restatement, history and critique, Quart. J. microsc. Sci., V. 94, pt 4, p. 407, 1953, bibliogr .; D o er r W. Wand-lungen der Krankheitsforschung, tiber "Standpunkte" in der Pathologie 150 Jah-re nach R. Virchows Geburtstag, B., 19 71, Bibliogr .; Hiltner G. Rudolf Virchow, Stuttgart, 1970, Bibliogr .; M ey e rE. Rudolf Virchow, Wiesbaden, 1956; Virchow, Werk und Wirkung, hrsg. v. F. Boenheim, B., 1957.

Ya.L. Rapoport.

Virchow(Virchow) Rudolf Ludwig Karl (13.10.1821, Schiefelbein, Pomerania - 05.09.1902, Berlin), German pathologist, anthropologist, archaeologist and politician. He received his primary education in the family and in private schools. In 1839 he entered the University of Berlin, choosing the theme of the essay Life, full of labor and struggle, is not a yoke, but a blessing. In 1843 he defended his doctoral dissertation, in the same year he went to work at the Charite clinic in Berlin. In 1847 he became a professor at the University of Berlin. He founded the journal Archives of Pathological Anatomy and Clinical Medicine (Archiv fur pathologische Anatomie, Physiologie und fur klinische Medizin).

In 1848 Virchow was sent to Silesia to study the typhus epidemic. 53 years later, he wrote that it was then that he came to the conviction of the connection between the issues of practical medicine and social reforms. From these positions Virkhov tried to cover medical problems in the journal Medical Reform. In 1849, due to anti-monarchist activities, he lost his place in the clinic and was forced to move from Berlin to Würzburg (Bavaria), where he became the head of the department of pathological anatomy at the University of Würzburg. In 1856 he accepted an offer from the University of Berlin to occupy the newly created department of pathological anatomy; simultaneously became the director of the Institute of Pathological Anatomy. In 1958, Virchow's lectures were published in a separate book entitled "Cellular pathology" (Die Cellularpathologie), in which any organism was considered as a collection of living cells, organized like a state. The personification of the cell and the idea of ​​the organism as a cellular federation, the sum of individual cells, diverged from the views on the organism as an integral system and met with numerous objections. The denial of the role of humoral and nervous factors in pathology was also unacceptable. Despite this, Virchow's works on the morphological foundations of diseases played an important role in the development of ideas about their nature and subsequently laid the foundation for modern pathological research.

Virkhov's works include studies of the pathology and epidemiology of infectious diseases, pathological anatomy, and the development of an autopsy methodology. Virkhov is the author of the theory of germplasm continuity.

As a member of the Berlin municipality, Virchow sought to carry out a number of sanitary and hygienic measures (water supply, sewerage, etc.). In 1861 Virchow became a member of the Prussian Sejm (Landtag). After the Franco-Prussian War, he temporarily retired from politics, although he remained a member of the Landtag. He was engaged in educational activities: for 33 years he published popular scientific collections on ethnology, anthropology and archeology. Together with the famous German archaeologist G. Schliemann, he took part in the excavations of Troy and carried out a systematization of the skulls found there. He was the editor of an ethnological journal, and in 1873 he participated in the founding of the German Anthropological Society, the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Ancient History. From 1880 to 1893 he was a member of the Reichstag.