"A Host of Experienced Microscopists": The Establishment of Histology in Nineteenth-Century Edinburgh

Abstract

Edinburgh was the foremost center in Britain for the introduction of microscopic anatomy into medical training. It therefore offers an instructive case study of the way in which what was initially an obscure and exotic technology eventually became a regular part of medical education. The paper explores the process by which skills that were originally the preserve of a small number of pioneers in histology came to be transmitted to a wider population. It focuses, in particular, on the transition from an authoritarian style of pedagogy, best exemplified by the histological teaching of John Hughes Bennett, to the more collegial styles of interaction between microscopists that came to be embodied in the Edinburgh Physiological Society.

História Do Lugar Brasiviano Na Fronteira Brasil – Bolívia

“…Lebert não foi apenas um excelente patologista microscópico, mas também publicou o primeiro atlas microscópico de patologia, que serviu de base para o ensino da época e impulsionou contemporâneos seus como Rudolph Virchow, que posteriormente desenvolveram novos conceitos na área da histologia e das lesões de tecidos e órgãos (Hajdu, 2011). (Bracegirdle, 1996;Jacyna, 2001;Drain, 2014).…”

“…Esta organização da sala de aula de microscopia, forneceu um modelo mecanizado que permitiu alcançar bons resultados em grupos numerosos de estudantes, o que até aí apenas havia sido possível através duma interação muito próxima e pessoal entre o professor um número reduzido de estudantes. Além disso o papel desempenhado pelos diagramas e pelas ilustrações à vista de todos, melhorou de forma muito significativa o ensino de anatomia microscópica em grandes turmas, e permitiu atingir o objetivo de expor todos os estudantes a alguma visão direta da realidade microscópica (Jacyna, 2001).…”

The enigma of Sir William Robert Wills Wilde (1815–1876)

“…Microscopy was being developed particularly in Europe and many students from Britain travelled to Europe, notably to Paris, to acquire expertise in this new technology. In Edinburgh in the 1830 ′ s Allen Thompson (1809-1884) was probably the first person to introduce microscopy to medical student teaching 25 and John Goodsir (1814-1867) conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and later Professor of Anatomy at Edinburgh University, developed his theory about the nature and structure of cellular life and organization based on microscopic evaluation of tissues. 26 Later, this new science of microscopy became widely available for the study of gross pathological features following the seminal work of Rudolf Virchow (1821Virchow ( -1902 in 1858.…”

From phrenology to the laboratory

“…As highlighted above, Laycock’s psychology relied to a far greater extent than did Carpenter’s on establishing the nature of microscopic organisms. By 1855, microscopy was beginning to enjoy a rather more respectable status within intellectual culture than it had during the early decades of the 19 th century (Jacyna, 2001). Carpenter’s statements had come under criticism from microscopists such as R. B. Todd and William Bowman, who had led him to reiterate his psychological categorization in rather different terms as early as 1850 (Todd and Bowman, 1835–59; Carpenter, 1850a).…”