Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of ContentsLord, John
Philosophy
Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of Contents
Lord, John
History
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.
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