Verigo, Bronislav Firdusovich

VERIGO, Bronislav Firdusovich (1860–1925), a well-known physiologist. In 1881, he graduated from the St. Petersburg University in the natural sciences division of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and in 1886, from the Military Medical Academy. At the university, he worked in the laboratory of Professor Sechenov on electrophysiology; the interesting and important results of this work served as Verigo's topic for his doctoral dissertation, «On the action of intermittent and direct current of various strength and different direction on the nerve». Upon graduation from the Medical Academy, Verigo was retained to prepare for a professorship and three years later was sent abroad. During his stay there, he published a number of works in Pflüger's Archiv on the theory of electrotonus. Upon returning to Russia, Verigo obtained the chair of physiology at Odessa University. Upon the expiration of his 25-year teaching term, Verigo was not approved by the ministry for a further term and moved to St. Petersburg, where he obtained the chair of biology and physiology at the Psychoneurological Institute, but soon took up a chair at the Perm University then being organized. Verigo's scientific specialty—physiology—was determined back in his student days; in physiology, electrophysiology attracted him most of all. Verigo succeeded in discovering on frog nerves the fact that, by means of a polarizing current of appropriate strength, it is possible to block either centripetal or centrifugal fibers at will. Verigo believed that by means of such a blockade by galvanic current, complete insensitivity could be achieved and this method applied instead of pharmacological agents during operations. Unfortunately, death interrupted his work. In addition to numerous reports on electrophysiology and the physiology of respiration, Verigo, before the start of the imperialist war, undertook the publication of an extensive course, «Fundamentals of Human and Higher Animal Physiology» (vol. I, St. Petersburg, 1905; vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1909). Unfortunately, this publication remained unfinished, and its third volume never saw the light of day. Verigo's main works: «Die depressive Kathodenwirkung, ihre Erklärung und ihre Bedeutung für Elektrophysiologie», Pflügers Archiv für die gesamte Physiologie, B. LXXXIV, 1901; «General Course of Animal and Human Physiology», Moscow-Petrograd, 1924; «Cell Biology», Odessa, 1913; «The Unity of Life Phenomena», Odessa, 1912; «Fundamentals of General Biology», vols. I–II, Odessa, 1912–13 (popular guide).