[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 wasDie 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 hisCrania ethnica americanaappeared, 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 hisArchiv. 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.
[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 theLancetat the close of each year; and Tinker's "America's Contributions to Surgery" (Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Aug.-Sept., 1902).