Aschoff

Aschoff, Ludwig, one of the largest modern pathologists, born in 1866 in Berlin, graduated from the University of Strasbourg in 1890. After graduating, he served as an assistant to the famous pathologist Johann Orto (see) and his assistant to the position of First Assistant at the Pathological Institute, which was under the management of the famous pathologist Recklinghausen (see). In 1903, A. moved to the position of ordinary professor of pathological anatomy in Marburg, and in 1906 he accepted an invitation to take the position of professor and director of the Pathological Institute in Freiburg (Baden), where he works to this day. A. distinguished himself in his young years not only as an original and talented scientist who found completely new paths and methods of research in each of his works and illuminated a whole series of dark questions of pathology, but also as an exceptional organizer and leader of collective scientific work, the creator of his individual Aschoff school of pathology. This quality attracted numerous students to A. in Göttingen, and in Freiburg, the Pathological Institute of which already, under the previous leadership of E. Ziegler, enjoyed deserved fame in this regard, made this institute a place where scientific figures from everywhere gathered to work in the field of pathology. World fame of A. was also contributed by his trips with reports: in 1904 to America, in 1923 to the USSR, Finland and Sweden, in 1925 to America, Japan and China. Of the huge number of scientific works of A. and his school, the most important must be considered: 1) the study "On the structure and formation of thrombi", in which A. first noted the features of the architecture of thrombi and explained the latter from the point of view of physical laws of precipitation of dense particles from a moving liquid; 2) the work "On the histology of tubal pregnancy", in which the origin of the elements of decidua tissue was clarified; 3) the monograph "On appendicitis", in which A. debunked the significance of foreign bodies in the origin of appendicitis, advancing the significance of irregularities of the position of the appendix, and moreover, clarified the pathological anatomy of the initial changes and the successive development of appendicitis, giving a classification of the various forms of it; 4) the study, jointly with the Japanese Tawara, "On the atrioventricular conducting system of the heart", which first established the course of this system in the human heart and opened a number of details related to it (for example, the Aschoff-Tawara node and others); 5) a number of works of A. and his students (Adami, Kawamura) "On cholesterol metabolism", which first advanced both the physiology of this metabolism and the significance of its disturbances in the origin of various pathological processes; 6) here also belong A.'s studies on atherosclerosis, which established the connection of the latter with a disturbance of cholesterol metabolism; 7) the study "On the pathogenesis of round ulcer of the stomach and duodenum" (jointly with Stromeyer), in which it was proved that a round ulcer is formed from erosions under the influence of mechanical factors; 8) a consequence of these studies was A.'s book concerning the anatomy of the stomach and advancing new concepts "about the pathway and narrow places of the stomach", which, as was established by A., play an important role in the origin of some pathological processes; 9) studies "On cholelithiasis", in which A. and his students clarified important details of the structure and origin of gallstones; 10) the doctrine "On the reticuloendothelial apparatus of metabolism" advanced by A. in 1913, which confirmed the presence in the body of a special system of cells having an important significance in intermediary metabolism; 11) studies of the Japanese Susuki and Mitamura "On kidney secretion", which clarified on the basis of the method of in vivo staining the representation of the functional difference of different parts of the glomerular-tubular system of the kidneys; 12) the study "On scurvy" made by A. during the imperialist war jointly with Koch, which gave a description of the pathological anatomy of scurvy and advanced the view on the significance of a disturbance of the basic substance of connective tissue in the pathogenesis of scurvy changes; 13) works of Aschoff and his students (Lepehne and others) "On the origin of hemolytic jaundice", in which the school of A. expressed the hypothesis of the possibility of formation of bile pigments from Hb outside the liver by the activity of the ret.-end. apparatus; 14) studies "On the pathogenesis of tuberculosis", confirming the dependence of pathological-anatomical manifestations in tuberculosis on the immunobiological state of the organism, outlining and defining the concepts - "primary infection" and "reinfection" by tuberculosis, and giving a rational classification of changes in pulmonary tuberculosis; 15) works on inflammation, which became the basis of the so-called "doctrine of Aschoff on inflammation", advancing a number of valuable pathogenetic details, but in general not receiving distribution due to its teleological character; 16) studies on the pathological anatomy of "rheumatic myocarditis", in which A. discovered special accumulations of cells, receiving the name "Aschoff's nodules". A. is the editor-publisher of the already in its 7th edition two-volume textbook on pathological anatomy (Aschoff, "Pathologische Anatomie") and the publisher of the famous journal "Zieglers Beitrage zur pathologischen Anatomie".