Abstract
OCTOBER 6 marks the centenary of the birth of the eminent anatomist, embryplogist and anthropologist, Wilhelm von Waldeyer, who was born in the village of Hehlen in Brunswick, and died on January 23, 1921. He first devoted his attention to natural science and mathematics, but under the influence of Henle took up medicine, which he studied at Gottingen, Greifswald and Berlin, where he qualified in 1861. After acting as von Wittich's assistant at the Konigsberg Physiological Institute, he went to Breslau in 1864 where he was first assistant to Heidenhain; then he became extraordinary professor of morbid anatomy in 1865 and full professor in 1867. In 1872; he was appointed professor of normal anatomy at Strasbourg and was transferred in 1883 to the corresponding chair at Berlin, which he occupied until 1917. His literary output was considerable, as is shown by the bibliography of 269 references in Sobotta's memoir (Anatom. Anzeiger, 1923). His principal works were on the ovary and ovum (1872), sclerotic, cornea and conjunctiva (1874), an atlas of human and animal hairs (1884), a history of anatomical instruction in Berlin (1899) and Darwin's doctrine (1910). He also made important contributions to our knowledge of cancer, retroperitoneal hernia and pelvic viscera, and was the first to describe the neuron theory, the ring of lymphoid tissue in the pharynx and chromosomes. He was co-editor with La Vallette St. George of Archiv fur mikrogkopische Anatomie, Virchow-Hirsch Jahresbericht and Archiv fiir Anatomie und Physiologie.
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Wilhelm von Waldeyer (1836–1921). Nature 138, 579 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138579c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138579c0