Carl Toldt Centennial, Surgeon and Anatomist.

Carl Florian Toldt was an Austrian anatomist who made meaningful contributions worldwide and defined what is one of the most important surgical landmarks in abdominal surgery. Through his research studies, the embryologic dissection plane known as the "White Line of Toldt" represents an important anatomical landmark that helps to mobilize either the ascending or descending colon. His career spanned over 45 years, beginning in Verona and continuing to Prague and Vienna. He was an author of several innovative books and scientific articles regarding micro- and macroscopic anatomy. In addition, he received numerous recognitions and prizes for his work, making him an essential figure in the medical scientific community. Even a street in Vienna, Karl-Toldt-Weg, is named in his honor. The purpose of this historical article is to celebrate and honor Toldt 100 years following his death, remembering his scientific contributions to the medical and surgical fields and giving thanks for his numerous accomplishments. This article brings light to the man behind the eponym.

[Modelled Development. Practices of Human Embryology at Göttingen University in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century]. / Modellierte Individualentwicklung. Humanembryologische Praktiken an der Universität Göttingen in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts.

The Human Embryology Collection at the Centre of Anatomy Göttingen, created between 1942 and 1970, represents a unique interrelation of histological sectional series of human embryos and large-format physical models open to the public based on them. The collection was established long after the heyday of human embryology. It is also remarkable in another aspect: while usually models within the discipline are considered research objects, Göttingen embryologist Erich Blechschmidt (1904-1992) based his understanding on a pedagogical impetus. The article highlights the distinctive and unconventional features of Blechschmidt's undertaking against its disciplinary background. My focus lies on the two practices that are central to human embryology-collecting and modelling-, as well as the derived collection stocks. The special tension between individuality and universality that already characterized the process of their creation is also reflected in the later use of the collection. This tension allowed Blechschmidt to utilize the models in embryological research and anatomical teaching as well as in the broad social debate on abortion and the ethical status of human embryos.

Joseph von Gerlach-A Reminder of One of the Pioneers of Histochemistry on the Occasion of His 200th Birthday.

Joseph von Gerlach was an eminent German anatomist and pioneer of histology. He devised various techniques to assess the fine structure of tissues, most notably a procedure of staining histologic sections that marked the beginning of routine staining in histology. Gerlach was also one of the pioneers of microphotography.

Spanish Neurohistology: Maturity and Evolution of a Research School.

During the early 20th century, a neurobiological research school combining diverse scientific approaches (basic neurohistology, anatomical pathology, neurology, and psychiatry) emerged around the figure of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934). In the 1920s, a new building was erected and it was to become the major Spanish neurobiological research center. It was an oversized project that, unfortunately, did not facilitate the definitive consolidation of a Spanish neurohistological school. Later, the Civil War and the early years of Franco's dictatorship brought about the slow decline of this research group. Anat Rec, 303:1242-1251, 2020. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy.

The image of Santiago Ramón y Cajal through the daily press. The awarding of the Nobel Priz

The purpose of this essay is to approach the figure of Cajal from a different perspective. It seeks to study the image of the Spanish scientist through the non-professional daily press and, in particular, the impact made by his Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1906. The importance of the press as a historical source today is unquestionable. In this case, it can largely be useful for providing public opinion about Cajal and allowing us to get close to the historical context and the ideological material of press, news, and articles. Major publications of the time from the main cities of Spain have been selected, such as El Imparcial, El Liberal, the Heraldo de Madrid, El País, La Vanguardia y Las Provincias, as well as the magazines Nuevo Mundo, Madrid científico, Mundo científico, La Ilustración española y americana, La Educación, and La Escuela moderna through 1906, the year before (1905) and the year after (1907)

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Cajal in Barcelona: From yesterday to today, from the neuron to the network

The synaptic and network theories of memory, which Cajal first advanced in Barcelona around 1890, have been firmly established and elaborated by three generations of neuroscientists. This article outlines a corollary model of memory in the cerebral cortex that derives from those theories and is empirically supported by modern functional methods. The model posits that the elementary unit of memory or knowledge is a network of neurons of the cerebral cortex associated by life experience according to Hebbian principles of synaptic modulation (a cognit). Networks or cognits of perceptual memory are hierarchically organized and distributed in posterior association cortex; those of executive memory, also hierarchically organized, are distributed in frontal association cortex. In the course of goal-directed behavior and language, perceptual and executive cognits engage in the perception-action cycle, the cybernetic cycle that dynamically links the cortical cognitive networks with the environment in the pursuit of goals,. The prefrontal cortex, at the summit of that cycle, and interacting with cortical and subcortical structures, guides behavior and language to their goals by means of its executive functions of planning, executive attention, working memory, decision-making, and inhibitory control

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Fighting with the strong

From the beginning of his laboratory work, Santiago Ramón y Cajal tried to find his peers among the researchers he read in foreign journals, whom he considered the most important in his field. He was very aware of the importance of publishing the results of his research. The aim of this work is to introduce, chronologically, the evolution of Cajal’s works, not only the strictly scientific but also the informational and other material, against the background of the different settings in which he lived and of the so-called "polemic of Spanish science"

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Microscopic anatomy of sensory receptors.

Experiences following stimulation of the senses have been recorded for millennia, and they could be related to the gross anatomy of the sense organs. Examination of their microanatomy was to await the development of achromatic microscopes in the early nineteenth century. Among the microscopic structures that were isolated and described were specialized sensory cells, called receptors, and they could be related to the stimuli that excited them. Those located in well-defined sense organs (like the eyes, ears, nose, and tongue) were named on the basis of their morphology, whereas the receptors in or beneath the surface of the skin were generally named after those who first described them. Illustrations of early representations of sensory receptors are combined with "perceptual portraits" of the microanatomists who described them.

Anders Retzius and the Dental Histologists of the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Their Contribution to Comparative Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology.

Anatomy, comparative anatomy and embryology are fundamental to taxonomy and evolutionary biology. In the mid-nineteenth century many anatomists and zoologists made major contributions to more than one of these disciplines and a surprising number of them were also histologists. Historical accounts of discoveries and developments in anatomy, and in particular dental histology, rarely consider broader contributions and have tended to be concerned with establishing historical priority about who discovered or described what first. The period 1830 to 1840 saw new developments in light microscopy that enabled studies of histology, cellular pathology and embryology. It also saw a shift away from older ideas such as Naturphilosophie and vitalism towards a more rigorous experimental approach to scientific investigation. Many scientists with diverse research interests were working in parallel on comparative dental histology and were in many cases largely unaware of each other's work. One researcher, Anders Retzius, travelled widely across Europe, corresponded regularly with his scientific colleagues and, probably unbeknownst to himself in his own lifetime, made a lasting contribution to dental histology. Anders Retzius was a clinician, an anatomist, a comparative anatomist, a histologist and latterly an anthropologist. His life and career spanned the whole of this fast-moving period in the history of anatomy and histology.

Profesor Doctor Aníbal Humberto Daniel Castañé Decoud: un catedrático asunceno de prolongada gestión institucional / Professor Doctor Aníbal Humberto Daniel Castañé Decoud: a paraguayan professor with prolonged institutional management

Así como la memoria institucional permite valorar hechos rescatables y evitar pasados errores, la trayectoria académica, imitando la vida misma, sobrelleva tiempos apacibles y tormentosos. En este contexto, y cercanos al centenario de nuestra Facultad y de las tradicionales Cátedras de Anatomía Normal e Histología y Embriología, fue emprendida la tarea de evocar a quienes asumieron sucesivamente la máxima responsabilidad en esta última desde 1920 hasta mediados de los 70s. De esta manera, este artículo concluye con tal saga biográfica haciendo foco en el Profesor Doctor Aníbal Humberto Daniel Castañé Decoud, el catedrático asunceno quien, merced a su desempeño académico, pudo enfrentar y superar variados desafíos durante su prolongada gestión (AU)

As well as the institutional memory allows appreciating ancient facts and avoiding past faults, the academic trajectory, as life by itself, undergoes calm and turbulent times. Within this context, and close to the centenary of our Faculty and the ensuing traditional Chairs of Normal Anatomy and Histology and Embryology, a remembrance of those professors who successively assumed the highest responsibility in the latter one from 1920 to mid-70s was carried out. In this way, this article concludes that biographic saga focusing on Professor Doctor Aníbal Humberto Daniel Castañé Decoud, the Paraguayan professor who, endowed by his academic background, could face and overcome varied challenges during his prolonged management (AU)

Doctor Tomás Ocaña. Una trayectoria prolífica en años turbulentos / Doctor Tomás Ocaña, a prolific trajectory in turbulent years

Excediendo el contexto polémico que signó la trayectoria académica del Dr. Tomás Ocaña, este trabajo evoca su prolífica carrera en años turbulentos, preñados de divisiones y desencuentros, nada inusuales en nuestro país. Marginando cualquier improcedente apasionamiento, se considera que su paso por una Facultad y una Cátedra, próximas ambas a cumplir su Centenario, no puede ser ignorado.

Exceeding the controversial context signing Tomas Ocaña academic performance, this paper recalls his prolific career in troubled years, full of divisions and misunderstandings, nothing unusual in our country. Leaving aside any unruly passion, his passing through a Faculty and a Cathedra, both near to become centenaries, cannot be ignored.

Ernest Van Campenhout (1904-1968) : de l'ULB à l'UCL.

Trained in the ULB, pupil of Albert Brachet, Ernest Van Campenhout frequented successively the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), the Yale University and the Montreal University, to settle definitively in the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), where he becomes professor of anatomy, histology and embryology. Despite the fact that his most interest was the autonomic innervation of the digestive tract, he examined a lot of problems, and his severe and rigorous teaching impressed a number of student's generations.

Formé à l'ULB, élève d'Albert Brachet, Ernest Van Campenhout a fréquenté successivement l'Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), l'Université de Yale et celle de Montréal, pour se fixer définitivement à l'Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), où il devient professeur d'anatomie, d'histologie et d'embryologie. Si ses recherches concernaient en priorité l'innervation autonome de l'appareil digestif, il s'est intéressé à un grand nombre de problèmes et son enseignement, austère et rigoureux, a marqué des générations d'étudiants.

Paul Langerhans: a prilgrim "traveling" from functional histology to marine biology.

The nineteenth century was the time of a real revolution in science and medicine. A lot of seminal discoveries in medicine and biology were done in this time, and many of them were coincident with the introduction of the compound microscope by Hermann van Deijl and the standard histological technique by Paul Ehrlich. The main tissue types and individual cells were characterized and originally classified more than hundred years ago, although less attention was paid to their basic functions. This was mainly due to the modality of tissue specimen processing that allowed particularly detailed descriptive studies. Even so, we can notice some attempts to correlate the structure with the function. The German scientist Paul Langerhans, well-known for the discovery of Langerhans islets of the pancreas and Langerhans cells from the epidermis, tried to change the conventional fate of morphological studies introducing in his works functional hypothesis based on traditional microscopic observations even from the beginning of his scientific career. Paul Langerhans was a complex personality of the second half of the nineteenth century, not only in medicine, but also in other fields of biology. In the present review, presented is the life and research activity of Paul Langerhans, not only because of the importance of his discoveries, but also for perspectives that were opened by these findings in unexpected fields of medicine and biology.

A parallel between two important Romanian histologists of twentieth century: Alexandru Tupa (1886-1956) and Cornel Crisan (1895-1958).

During the XXth century, the evolution of histology in Romania was marked by different personalities. The aim of our paper is to present a parallel between two Professors of Histology: Alexandru Tupa (1886-1956) and Cornel Crisan (1895-1958) - who were contemporaries. Thus, we bring a homage to their memory, because in 2016 was the anniversary of 130 years since the birth of Al. Tupa and in 2018 will be the commemoration of 60 years since the death of C. Crisan. Both carried out their didactic and scientific activities at two prestigious Faculties of Medicine from Romania: Tupa in Jassy and Crisan in Cluj. Although they had a great respect one for the other, both of them progressing in the same morphological domain, yet it was not a close relationship between them. In our paper, we point out the numerous similarities regarding their lives and careers. The main resemblance between them, seen from a general perspective, is that they did not become unrivalled figures of the School of Medicine from Jassy, respectively from Cluj, even they were remarkable professors and scientists. In our article, we also mention their contribution to the development of histology in Romania.

Entre neurônios e sinapses: as contribuições de Cajal e Athias para a medicina ibérica entre os séculos XIX e XX / Between neurons and synapses: the contributions of Cajal and Athias to Iberian medicine between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Resumo O presente estudo reflete sobre o trajeto da histologia na transição do século XIX para o XX, em Portugal e em Espanha, para estabelecer um paralelo entre as contribuições de Santiago Ramón y Cajal e Marck Athias, ambos determinantes para o desenvolvimento da medicina experimental na Península Ibérica, reconhecidos como pilares de uma nova mentalidade científica europeia, na alvorada do século XX. Neste estudo de caso, refletimos sobre as vicissitudes da construção da ciência na “periferia” europeia, no contexto da categoria historiográfica centro-periferia desenvolvida pelo grupo Science and Technology in the European Periphery (Step), confrontando a realidade ibérica com o modelo de ciência alemã, no período em estudo.

Abstract The trajectory of histology at the cusp of the twentieth century in Portugal and Spain is investigated to draw a parallel between the contributions of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Marck Athias, both of whom were instrumental in the development of experimental medicine in the Iberian Peninsula and recognized as pillars of a new European scientific mindset at the dawn of the twentieth century. In this case study we reflect on the vicissitudes of the construction of science in the “periphery” of Europe, in the context of the historiographical category of center-periphery developed by STEP (Science and Technology in the European Periphery), contrasting the reality in Iberia with the model of German science in the period under study.

[Between neurons and synapses: the contributions of Cajal and Athias to Iberian medicine between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries]. / Entre neurônios e sinapses: as contribuições de Cajal e Athias para a medicina ibérica entre os séculos XIX e XX.

The trajectory of histology at the cusp of the twentieth century in Portugal and Spain is investigated to draw a parallel between the contributions of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Marck Athias, both of whom were instrumental in the development of experimental medicine in the Iberian Peninsula and recognized as pillars of a new European scientific mindset at the dawn of the twentieth century. In this case study we reflect on the vicissitudes of the construction of science in the "periphery" of Europe, in the context of the historiographical category of center-periphery developed by STEP (Science and Technology in the European Periphery), contrasting the reality in Iberia with the model of German science in the period under study.

Pro Memoria. Professor Boleslaw Jalowy (1906-1943): Mortui viventes obligant - the livings are obligated to the dead.

Professor Boleslaw Jalowy (1906-1943) was a chairman of Department of Histology and Embryology at Faculty of Medicine of King John Casimir University (Polish: Universytet Jana Kazimierza: UJK) in Lvov. He succeeded Professor Wladyslaw Szymonowicz (1869-1939) who held this position for decades. As the most skillful followers of his tutor, Boleslaw Jalowy was a great investigator of physiology of human tissue, embryogenesis, histological consequences of female sex hormones on blood clotting action as well as regeneration of nerves in addition to description of silver staining technique for reticulin fibers of skin. He was a hard working person with gentle attitude to such a subtle matter as microscopic structure of human body. However, he happened to live in brutal conditions of nationalistic struggles. His example shows how much a dedicated scientist could do in a very short time as his life was tragically ended with murdering him during World War Two. His story is a great lesson for generations of academic workers how to meet high moral standards with efficient and creative scientific work in evil and destructive, nationalistic climate that occurs usually in wartime.