COHNHEIM, JULIUS

COHNHEIM, JULIUS (1839–1884), German pathologist and pioneer in experimental histology. Cohnheim, who was born in Pomerania, held professorships in pathology at the universities of Kiel, Breslau, and Leipzig. Cohnheim discovered how to freeze fresh pathological objects for examination and how to trace nerve endings in muscles by using silver salt impregnation. His studies on inflammation and suppuration revolutionized pathology. He demonstrated that the main feature of inflammation is the passage of leukocytes through the capillary walls and that in this way pus is formed out of the blood. His work on the pathology of the circulatory system and on the etiology of embolism resulted in innovations in the treatment of circulatory diseases. He inoculated tuberculous material into the eye of a rabbit and thus demonstrated that tuberculosis is a contagious disease. A monument in Cohnheim's memory was erected in Leipzig. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.R. Kagan, Jewish Medicine (1952), 223–4. (Suessmann Muntner)