048 RUDOLPH VIRCHOW, 1821-1902. 



operation of niodical legislation is the immediate consequence of the 

 fiery exhortations of the young charity hospital demonstrator, and 

 later on he took a leading part as medical expert and as parliamenta- 

 rian in the drafting of this legislation. 



It was at this time that the "Medizinische Reform'' began the battle 

 for the health of the people. Questions of legislation and conditions 

 were chiefl}" treated b}^ R. Leubuscher and S. Neumann, while educa- 

 tion and medical science were in the hands of Virchow. All these 

 prol)lems were connected with the political background, and the con- 

 ditions out of which they grew and which were necessary factors of 

 their solution w^ere never lost sight of. In the article with the title 

 "Conclusion," in No. 52 of the periodical, there is a note of resigna- 

 tion. Like the other contents of the last numbers, it is unsigned, but 

 is unquestionably' the work of Virchow, who had carried the whole 

 weight of responsibility ^ince the first of the 3'ear. The article begins 

 with a verse from Ecclesiastes, and this also appears in the concluding- 

 paragraph, which is a solemn pledge sincerely adhered to b}' Virchow 

 in the remaining fifty-three years of his life: 



"We recognize therefore only the question of the healthful daily 

 existence and daily bread for the people, and dedicate ourselves to 

 making the broadest preparations with which the battle can be fought 

 to ultimate success. The medical reform which we ha^e advocated 

 was a reform of science and of societ}-. We have outlined its prin- 

 ciples, and they will force their own way without the aid of this organ, 

 })ut every moment shall find us working for them and ready to do 

 ])attlcfor them. We do not change the thing, but only the place. It 

 would be not only useless but foolish to sow young seed among stones 

 or to plant it in the earth in winter. ' To everything there is a season, 

 and a time to ever}' purpose under the heaven."' 



Virchow was thus so deepl}^ connected with political questions, oven 

 though not occupying himself with the minor details, but only with 

 the main princi])ies, that his pay and allowances were suspended for 

 a short time in the spring of 1849 on account of his activity as an 

 agitator, but still with all this his scientific work never wholh^ ceased. 

 The epidemic of cholera in that luducky year furnished him rich 

 material for his investigations. 



Soon after the above-mentioned oixlers and their })artial repeal (tlie 

 fre(; lodging in the hospital was not restored to him) ^'ir(•h()^v was 

 called to the University of Wui-z])urg, and he gladly acce])ted (his 

 opportunity of freeing himself from a situation which had l)ecome so 

 unphvisaiit. In A\"ui'zj)ui'g began that rai)id rise to the same degree of 

 leadership in the woild which he already enjoyed in a more limited 

 circle. Before leaving Berlin he ])u])lislied in the autumn of 1841) his 

 famous i)hiloso])hic statement, " Die Einheitsl)estrebungen in der wis- 

 seuschaftlichen ^ledizin,"" in which he ga^'e i)roof to fi-iend and foe 



"Berlin, 1.S49, and " GesainmelU" Abhuiullun<ren " Fnuikfiirt. isr)(i. 



