Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1818

ROBERT REMAK (1815-1865) Observationes anatomicae et microscopicae de systematis nervosi structura. Sumtibus et formis Reimerianis 1838 vi, 41 [1] pp., 2 plates (in pocket). 27.5 cm.

Remak was one of the greatest neurocytologists and his published works have withstood the test of time and scientific examination. He was, from his youth, a brilliant student and he studied under Müller (see No. 1631 ff.) and Schönlein at Berlin. He was a practicing physician and participated in the founding of galvanotherapy, made major contributions to the knowledge of ascending and descending neuritis, and speculated on the role of inflammation of the ganglia in peripheral paralysis. However, Remak made his most significant and lasting contributions in the fields of cytology, embryology, and neurology. His unsurpassed ability as a microscopist is well demonstrated in this doctoral thesis, written in Latin when he was only twenty-three years of age. In it he presented one of the fundamental truths of neurohistology by distinguishing between the gray postganglionic nerve fibers (Remak's fibers) and the white cerebrospinal nerves. He also demonstrated that the autonomic ganglia are the axones of nerve cells and are continuous with cells within the spinal cord. These axones were later called axis cylinders by Purkinje.

See Related Record(s): 1631

Cited references: Cushing R94; Garrison-Morton 1262; Waller 7877

Gift of John Martin, M.D.