THE 
SCHOOL OF PHYSIOLOGY 
AT 
LEIPZIG. 
H. P. BOWDITCH, M.D. 
Reprinted from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 
for April 21, 1870. 
BOSTON : 
DAYID CLAPP & SON. 
1870. THE 
SCHOOL OF PHYSIOLOGY 
AT 
LEIPZIG. 
H. P. BOWMTCII, M.D. 
Reprinted from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 
for April 21, 1870. 
BOSTON: 
DAVID CLAPP & SON. 
1870. LETTER FROM LEIPZIG. 
Leipzig, March Bth, 1870. 
Mr. Editor,—Thinking it may interest 
your readers to hear something of the way 
in which physiology is studied and taught 
at Leipzig, I venture to ask a place in your 
columns for the following communication. 
Leipzig is a city very little visited by 
American medical men, for whom the larger 
cities, such as Berlin and Vienna, offer in 
general greater attractions in their superior 
opportunities for clinical observation. The 
student of physiology and chemistry, how- 
ever, finds here facilities for prosecuting 
his studies which are not surpassed in any 
city in Germany. 4 
The physiological laboratory, where I am 
at present working, owes its existence to 
he energy of Prof. Carl Ludwig and to 
the liberality of the government of Saxony. 
As it is universally acknowledged to be the 
most complete establishment of the kind in 
Europe, it seems to me to merit a some- 
what detailed description. The building, 
as may be seen by the annexed plan, has 
somewhat the form of a horseshoe, with a 
small, projecting portion in the middle, 
■where the lecture-room is situated. The 
dimensions are—on the north and south 
sides, 119 feet 2 inches ; on the east side, 
121 feet 11 inches. The right wing of the 
building constitutes the microscopical 
partment, the left the chemical department 
of the laboratory, while the central portion 
is devoted to the study of experimental 
physiology in the narrower sense of the 
word. 6 
To describe the rooms more minutely. 
Room a is arranged for the accommodation 
of beginners in the study of microscopy, 
and is furnished with boxes to contain the 
microscopes, and a large ground-glass tab- 
let, by means of which the lectures on mi- 
croscopy are illustrated with drawings in 
colored chalk. Room bis the private study 
of the assistant in microscopy. Room ois 
intended for more advanced students in mi- 
croscopy, and contains an injecting appa- 
ratus, by means of which three different 
fluids can be injected simultaneously under 
any required pressure and for any length of 
time, while the injection mass and the tis- 
sue to be injected are heated over a water 
bath. Room n contains a small library, 
consisting of such books as are most need- 
ed for constant reference. Room e is fur- 
nished with glass cases, in which physio- 
logical apparatus is kept when not in use. 
As a rule, no experiments are performed in 
this room. Rooms f, g and h are devoted 7 
to experimental physiology, and 
nished with operating tables, with bellows 
attached for keeping up artificial respiration 
on curarized animals, registering apparatus 
of various sorts for recording the pressure 
of the blood, water baths where any re- 
quired temperature may be kept up indefi- 
nitely, an injecting apparatus like that in 
the microscopical department, evaporating 
closets, glass cases for apparatus, &c. Be- 
tween rooms g and h is a small closet ar- 
ranged for observations with the spectro- 
scope. Room i is the chamber where all 
experiments are performed which require 
the use of large quantities of quicksilver. 
It contains two quicksilver pumps for ex- 
tracting gases from fluids, instruments for 
measuring the activity of the respiration 
in man and the lower animals, &c. Room 
j is divided into two portions, one of which 
is used for a weighing room and the other 
for experiments in acoustics. Rooms k 
and l contain, besides the ordinary furni- 8 
ture of chemical laboratories, the ingenious 
air‘pump of Bunsen, by which the process 
of filtering is so greatly accelerated. The 
lecture room, m, accommodates about one 
hundred students. Tables running on a 
small railroad in front of the seats, enable 
the lecturer to demonstrate his experiments 
very considerably. The room is lighted 
from above as well as from the side, and if 
necessary, can be darkened completely, for 
optical experiments. 
In the basement of the building is a small 
gas-engine of about one-horse power, which 
drives the respiration apparatus, register- 
ing instruments, &c. In the basement are 
also the rooms where the animals are kept 
(one room being devoted entirely to frogs), 
a chamber furnished with refrigerators for 
performing chemical experiments, where a 
low temperature is required, a chamber 
containing furnaces for fusion, a work-shop, 
store-rooms, &c. 
The second story of the building contains 9 
the rooms of Prof. Ludwig and his family, 
and those of other persons connected with 
the laboratory. In the court-yard is a small 
building containing the necessary arrange- 
ments for experimenting on horses and 
other large animals. Here, also, are an 
aviary and a small fish-pond. 
Besides the permanent and stationary 
apparatus already described, the laboratory 
is well supplied with all sorts of instru- 
ments for physiological experiments, and 
new apparatus is constantly ordered for 
special investigations. There is also a very 
skilful mechanic living in the laboratory, 
whose duty it is to make alterations or re- 
pairs in the apparatus as circumstances 
may require. ’ 
Prof. Ludwig directs personally all the 
work done in the laboratory, devoting his 
whole time to the superintendence of his 
pupils, and making no independent investi- 
gations. Each of the pupils, at present 
nine in number, makes, under the direction 10 
of the Professor, a series of experiments 
with a view of settling some special point 
in physiology. The results arrived at are 
published at the end of the year, sometimes 
under the names of the Professor and pupil 
together, and sometimes under that of the 
pupil alone. The whole work of the labo- 
ratory forms every year a pamphlet of 150 
to 250 pages. 
Prof. Ludwig lectures five times a week 
on physiology, and his assistants, viz., Prof. 
Schweigger-Seidel in microscopy, Dr. Huf- 
ner in chemistry, and Dr, J, J. Muller in 
physics, also lecture on their specialties, 
besides superintending the work done in 
their respective departments. 
It will thus be seen that abundant facili- 
ties are here offered, not only for learning 
the existing state of physiological science, 
but also for becoming familiar with the 
manner in which physiology is at present 
studied in Germany. The patient, metho- 
dical and faithful way in which the pheno- 11 
mena of life are investigated by the German 
physiologists not only inspires great confi- 
dence in their results, but encourages one 
in the hope that the day is not far distant 
when physiology will take its proper place 
as the only true foundation of medical sci- 
ence. 
H. P, Bowditch.