[The young Rudolf Virchow and the Society of Obstetrics in Berlin 1846-1848]

Between 1846 and 1848, the young Rudolf Virchow, prosector of the Charité in Berlin, actively participated in the sessions of the Berlin Obstetrical Society, founded in 1844 by Carl Mayer, his future father-in-law. Virchow presented papers on uterine prolapse, uric acid kidney-infarction of newborns, ovarian myxoid cystoma, and the puerperal state, to mention only the more important contributions. In 1847, Virchow became an extraordinary member of the Society. By introducing obstetricians (who also were gynecologists) to modern thinking in natural science, he was the scientific motor of that Society, so to speak. The March-revolution in 1848, in which he participated, interrupted these scientific activities. In 1849, the officials of the Society tried in vain to prevent Virchow from accepting the call to the chair of pathological anatomy at the University of Würzburg.