NA TURE 



241 



THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1895. 



THE TEACHING OF PATHOLOGY. 



The E/fiiuit/s of Pathological Histology. By Dr. A. 

 Weichselbauni. Translated by W. R. Dawson. 

 London : Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895.J 



THOSE who have watched the progress of patho- 

 logical teaching, in this country especially, must 

 have recognised that during recent years its scope has 

 become much wider, or that at least there is a tendency 

 towards broader conceptions. Cohnheim made an at- 

 tempt to cast off the narrow fetters of Morbid Anatomy, 

 and to instil into his pupils that wonderful enthusiasm 

 which he himself felt for General Pathology, or, as we 

 may term it, " .Morbid Physiology." His "' \'orlcsungen 

 iiber .Mlgemeine Pathologie" still form a monumental 

 record of what he has achieved, and his method must 

 and should be the ideal of every teacher of pathology. 

 Strange to say with his death things reverted into the 

 old groove, and until recently, pathological teaching 

 restricted itself almost exclusively to Morbid .A.natomy. 

 *'N'ec silet mors" is the motto of the Pathological 

 Society : it is not appropriate, because patholog>' deals 

 not merely \\\ih death ; its soul and essence, however 

 morbid, is "life." Bacteriology, now a recognised 

 branch of pathology, in spite of all the harm it has 

 wrought, has achieved this, that it has carried us away 

 I rom the dead-house to the laboraton.-, and has awakened 

 a us the spirit of experimental inquiry. 



Bacteriology should be regarded, however, as an adjunct 

 to pathology, i.e. so far as it applies to disease ; beyond 

 that it belongs to botany. Every bacteriologist should 

 l)e a pathologist, and e\ery pathologist should possess 

 .m ade(.[uatc knowledge of physiology as well as a com- 

 plete mastery over morbid anatomy. The day is to be 

 regretted when we follow the footsteps of our continental 

 brethren, and become mere specialists in the art of grow- 

 ing bacteria and of immunisation. It is not intended to 

 -ive the erroneous impression that morbid anatomy is not 

 pathology — it still is, as ever it was, the most important 

 partner from the student's as well as the investigator's 

 point of view and for practical purposes ; but this must 

 be insisted upon, that the morbid physiology of the body 

 and of disease has been too much neglected. This be- 

 comes evident when we look through our text-books and 

 manuals of pathology. Year after year we have fresh 

 treatises on morbid anatomy and histology, or on bacteri- 

 ology, but there is, if we except Cohnheinrs classical 

 work, hardly a book on the pathology of disease and its 

 ;)rocesses. If we wish to learn this, we have to turn to 

 our standard works on medicine or to the journals. The 

 present volume, the subject of this review, deals exclu- 

 sively with morbid histology and bacteriology, and for 

 ■liat reason, however \aluable it may be, it may be asked 

 whether there was the need for Dr. Dawson to give up 

 so much time to its translation. \Ve have a sufficient 

 number of similar works already ; why give us a stone 

 when it is bread we want ? Prof. Weichselbauni's name 

 IS suft'u lent to lead us to expect a useful book on bacteri- 

 ology, and a satisfactory one on morbid histology ; more 

 NO. I 34 I, VOL. 52] 



we cannot look for from that source. A careful perusal 

 of the translation justifies our expectations. 



Of 44! pages, more than eighty are devoted exclusively 

 to bacteriology, i.e. to the description of bacteriological 

 methods, and to a. n'.^uine ot the general principles. If 

 we keep in mind that under each organ also subsequently 

 all the various infective and microbic lesions are care- 

 fully discussed, it seems to us that the author has given 

 undue prominence to this, which is, after all, a small part 

 of his subject. 



It is difficult to serve two masters, and the result 

 must be that for bacteriological methods and principles 

 we shall continue to consult special works : they are 

 numerous, and it would be difficult to find works of 

 greater usefulness than Prof. C. Frankel's excellent text- 

 book or the elaborate compilation of Dr. Heim. The 

 directions given for bacterial staining or cultivation are 

 too meagre to be of much use to the beginner. Gram's 

 well-known method, e.g., is described thus : " Sections 

 are placed for half an hour in aniline gentian violet, then 

 for two or three minutes in iodine and potassium iodide, 

 and then in alcohol, which is changed as it becomes 

 coloured. Finally they are cleared and mounted." One 

 can imagine the poor tyro mournfully contemplating the 

 result of those instructions. We therefore adhere to 

 the opinion that in works intended for students, too much 

 should not be offered between the covers ; but, if a 

 comprehensive treatise is intended, fulness and complete- 

 ness of directions and instructions are imperative. The 

 descriptions of the micro-organisms, though short, are 

 succinct and good, so far as they go ; but the German 

 edition having appeared in 1892, new discoveries and 

 altered views are wanting, and the briefness is often 

 exasperating. 



Xow as to the ])urely anatomical or histological part 

 of the book, it also suffers from shortness, and we must 

 confess that we have works in the English language which 

 are sure to occupy a higher position than this translated 

 importation. Useless Dr. Dawson's work certainly is 

 not ; the beautiful illustrations and a chapter on blood 

 examination, short though it be, recommend it. Many 

 of the illustrations are new and original, and are exactl>- 

 the kind of representation wanted to bring out the salient 

 points in a histological specimen. The English pub- 

 lishers also have done all they could to give the work 

 a good appearance, and altogether it is a pleasant book 

 to possess. It is essentially an annotated picture-book; 

 but as a picture-book it is excellent, and will be of great 

 use to those who consider the study of morbid anatomy 

 and histology a form of " .\nschauungsunterricht" ; and, 

 indeed, much can be learnt from good pictures. One point 

 this work brings home to us in a painful manner, viz. the 

 decline of pathological anatomy. Bacteriology swamps 

 evervthing. On the continent, professorial chairs of 

 pathology are occupied by bacteriologists, and the in- 

 struction of hygiene is also given over to bacteriologists. 

 The result is that sound pathological anatomy is pushed 

 steadily into the background. So far in this country, 

 fortunately, we have suffered less ; in principle, at least, 

 we still consider bacteriology merely a fraction or an 

 element of pathology, but already the spectre has risen, 

 and unless we take care, we also shall be ruled by the 

 liacillus, and find contentment in the haven of mediocrity 



.M 



