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LUDWIG, KARL FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1816—...
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See also:LUDWIG, KARL See also:FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1816—1895) , See also:German physiologist, was See also:born at Witzenhausen, near See also:Cassel, on the 29th of See also:December 1816. He studied See also:medicine at See also:Erlangen and See also:Marburg, taking his See also:doctor's degree at Marburg in 1839. He made Marburg his See also:home for the next ten years, studying and teaching See also:anatomy and See also:physiology, first as prosector to F. L. Fick (1841), then as privat-docent (1842), and finally as extraordinary See also:professor (1846). In 1849 he was chosen professor of anatomy and physiology at See also:Zurich, and six years afterwards he went to See also:Vienna as professor in the Josephinum (school for military surgeons). In 1865 he was appointed to the newly created See also:chair of physiology at See also:Leipzig, and continued there until his See also:death on the 23rd of See also:April 1895. Ludwig's name is prominent in the See also:history of physiology, and he had a large See also:share in bringing about the See also:change in the method of that See also:science which took See also:place about the See also:middle of the 19th See also:century. With his See also:friends H. von See also:Helmholtz, E. W. BrUcke and E. Du Bois-Reymond, whom he met for the first See also:time in See also:Berlin in 1847, he rejected the See also:assumption that the phenomena of living animals depend on See also:special biological See also:laws and vital forces different from those which operate in the domain of inorganic nature; and he sought to explain them by reference to the same laws as are applicable in the See also:case of See also:physical and chemical phenomena. This point of view was expressed in his celebrated See also:Text-See also:book of Human Physiology (1852—1856), but it is as evident in his earliest See also:paper (1842) on the See also:process of urinary secretion as in all his subsequent See also:work. Ludwig exercised enormous See also:influence on the progress of physiology, not only by the discoveries he made, but also by the new methods and apparatus he introduced to its service. Thus in regard to secretion, he showed that secretory glands, such as the submaxillary, are more than See also:mere filters, and that their secretory See also:action is attended by chemical and thermal changes both in themselves and in the See also:blood passing through them. He demonstrated the existence of a new class of secretory nerves that See also:control this action, and by showing that if the nerves are appropriately stimulated the salivary glands continue to secrete, even though the See also:animal be decapitated, he initiated the method of experimenting with excised See also:organs. He devised the kymograph as a means of obtaining a written See also:record of the See also:variations in the pressure of the blood in the blood-vessels; and this apparatus not only conducted him to many important conclusions respecting the See also:mechanics of the circulation, but afforded the first instance of the use of the graphic method in physiological inquiries. For the purpose of his researches on the gases in the blood, he designed the See also:mercurial blood-See also:pump which in various modifications has come into extensive use, and by its aid he made many investigations on the gases of the See also:lymph, the gaseous interchanges in living muscle, the significance of oxidized material in the blood, &c. There is indeed scarcely any See also:branch of physiology, except the physiology of the senses,to which he did not make important contributions. He was also a See also:great See also:power as a teacher and the founder of a school. Under him the Physiological See also:Institute at Leipzig became an organized centre of physiological See also:research, whence issued a steady stream of See also:original work; and though the papers containing the results usually See also:bore the name of his pupils only, every investigation was inspired by him and carried out under his See also:personal direction. Thus his pupils gained a See also:practical acquaintance with his methods and ways of thought, and, coming from all parts of See also:Europe, they returned to their own countries to spread and extend his doctrines. Possessed himself of extraordinary manipulative skill, he abhorred rough and clumsy work, and he insisted that experiments on animals should be planned and prepared with the utmost care, not only to avoid the infliction of See also:pain (which was also guarded against by the use of an anaesthetic), but to ensure that the deductions See also:drawn from them should have their full scientific value. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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