332 
The  History  of  Pathology. 
Am.  Jour.  Phai  m. 
July,  1904. 
and  soon  after  the  brief  but  momentous  activity  of  Bichat  there  was 
a  period  that  had  an  effect  on  pathology  not  unlike  that  of  the 
French  Revolution  on  political  and  social  affairs,  destroying  medical 
ignorance  as  the  latter  swept  away  feudal  abuses.  And  although 
medicine,  too,  had  its  Bourbons  and  reactionaries,  its  course  was 
more  steadily  forward  than  that  of  contemporary  politics.  It  would 
take  too  long  to  describe  the  course  of  pathological  anatomy  after 
Hunter  and  Bichat,  and  the  names  of  Baillie,  Bayle,  Bretonneau, 
Corvisart,  Laennes,  Louis,  Bright  and  Rokitansky  are  only  the 
greater  stars  of  a  large  and  brilliant  galaxy.  These  men  not  only 
put  pathology  on  a  firm  foundation  by  showing  the  anatomic  changes 
in  the  most  important  diseases,  but  they  gave  clinical  medicine  a 
positive  basis  by  demonstrating  the  relation  of  the  anatomic  altera- 
tions to  the  newly  discovered  signs,  often  worked  out  by  the  same 
hands  that  revealed  the  anatomic  changes.  They  showed  how,  by 
the  cultivation  of  the  hand,  eye  and  ear,  by  the  microscope  and  test 
tube,  diagnosis  could  reach  a  precision  impossible  by  the  use  of 
symptoms  alone. 
But  while  pathological  anatomy  was  having  this  salutary  effect 
on  practical  medicine,  it  was  also  opening  up  larger  vistas  in  the 
science  of  pathology.  The  creative  mind  of  Johannes  Mueller  and 
the  unparalleled  activity  of  Virchow  caused  a  productiveness  greater 
than  ever  before.  Mueller  forever  destroyed  the  power  of  dogma 
in  pathology,  and  in  its  place  put  method. 
There  are  certain  important  aspects  of  the  study  and  teaching  of 
pathology  that  may  be  considered  with  advantage  at  such  a  time 
and  in  such  a  place.  "  Practical  teaching  "  and  "  laboratory  methods" 
are  the  watchwords  of  the  day,  but  it  is  sometimes  possible  to  see 
these  methods  carried  on  to  the  neglect  of  real  learning.  Without 
actual  handling,  seeing,  analyzing,  drawing  and  describing,  such  a 
topic  as  pathology  cannot  be  mastered,  but  to  do  it  properly  requires 
sound  preparation,  cultivated  habits  of  thought,  patience,  the  neces- 
sary raw  material,  reagents  and  apparatus,  and  sufficient  time.  And 
yet  time,  in  our  crowded  medical  courses,  is  very  often  lacking,  and  the 
student  is  expected  to  get  along  very  often  without  most  of  the 
other  things.  Few  can  learn  to  draw,  paint  or  play  a  musical  instru- 
ment without  a  teacher,  and  usually  a  certain  degree  of  excellence 
is  required  of  such  teachers,  and  yet  medical  students  are  often 
expected  to  master  various  laboratory  branches  with  few  teachers, 
