The History of Pathology: Rudolph Virchow

Written By: Brooke Hinchcliff

Pathology is the science of the causes and effects of disease and injury. Often studied through body or tissue samples, this science is used mainly for diagnostic or forensic purposes.

Rudolph Virchow is considered The Father Of Modern Pathology. A German physician, he furthered the studies of archeology, medicine, public health, and pathology. Virchow actually advanced the cell theory with the idea that every cell comes from another cell.

Born in Prussia in 1821, it became apparent that Virchow was incredibly intelligent, with his parents paying for extra lessons. He was awarded a scholarship to the Prussian Military Academy in 1839 to study medicine and become an army physician. Virchow later went to study at the University of Berlin, where he met and worked alongside medical professors Johannes Müller and Johann Schönlein. Virchow graduated in 1843, becoming an intern at a German hospital. At this hospital, he was taught the basics of the microscope, the theories of the causes, and the treatment of diseases. Virchow was the assistant to Robert Froreip, a pathologist, who introduced Virchow to pathology, along with microbiology and microscopy. The next year, Virchow published a scientific paper regarding the pathology of leukemia. This was the first paper of its kind in history. Virchow declared leukemia a type of cancer, caused by white blood cells that abnormally increased in size. He theorized that abnormal cells cause cancer and how tumors are formed.

This paper allowed him to earn his medical license. In 1846, Virchow became a licensed doctor, traveling around Europe, before being enlisted to study a typhus outbreak by the Prussian government in 1848 to a Polish town. Virchow insisted that epidemics could be stopped by better educating people on their hygiene and health.

Virchow discovered many things that play a critical role in the medical field to this day. Along with cell theory and division, he discovered that disease could be passed from animals to humans, and created a systematic way to perform autopsies. Virchow furthered the forensic field as well, as the first person to analyze hair from a crime scene.

Along with being a physician, he was an advocate for the government to be involved in public health and better education, saying “physicians are the natural advocates of the poor.” (Lim 2018, 3) His role in the German revolutions extended to him printing weekly newspapers, called the Medical Reform, to better educate the public on social medicine.

Sources

“Digital Clendening: Rudolf Virchow Manuscripts, Home”. Kumc.Edu, 2000, https://www.kumc.edu/dc/rv/index.html.

Lim, Alane. “Rudolf Virchow: Father Of Modern Pathology”. Thoughtco, 2018, https://www.thoughtco.com/rudolf-virchow-4580241.

Serena, Katie. “Rudolf Virchow: The Father Of Modern Medicine Who Challenged Otto Von Bismarck To A Duel By Sausage”. All That’s Interesting, 2019, https://allthatsinteresting.com/rudolf-virchow.