Virchow’s Concept of Pathology and the Theory of Arteriosclerosis

Abstract

When Rudolf Virchow began to concern himself with pathology, in 1842, medical science was going through a period of radical change. As a result of the French Revolution, there was a tendency to abandon the traditional, inflexible approach. “Peu lire, beaucoup faire, beaucoup voir” was the new motto. It now seemed essential to place emphasis on observation and medical practice. Pagel (1931) noted an unprecedented contrast between the beginning and the end of the nineteenth century; the years of revolution in Paris had far-reaching effects on intellectual thought and, probably as a kind of counter-reaction, the following major developments took place in central Europe: (a) the emergence of natural philosophy — a romantic kind of medicine with its own world of ideas; (b) natural history — particularly in southern Germany; and (c) thanks to Virchow and his colleagues, medicine as an applied form of natural science.

Lecture held on 5 September 1986 at the XVI International Congress of the International Academy of Pathology at Vienna.