Photo: Part of the old Pathology Building
The department of Pathology in the 19th Century
The nomination of Koster was the result of this insight. During an autopsy in 1876 he encounterted a nearly fatal infection that forced him to leave his position. His successor as professor was a 29y old doctor, Sape Talma, who not only thaught general and anatomic pathology, but also basic internal medicin. He did that so well that at the age of 35, he was appointed as director of the department of Internal Medicin. His teaching responsibilities were transfered to Cornelis Pekelharing, a than 33y old morphologist and microbiologist. Together with his predecessor he studied the behavour of white blood cells in inflammation and later also the behaviour of anthrax bacilli. A pathology professorship was often the start for other (more valued?) positions. In 1881 Pekelharing became the chair of physiology and chemistry. He was succeeded in his pathology function by a 30y old prosector in anatomy (“what is the difference?” was evidently thought), Charles Spronck. This young anatomist however, eventually would develop into a famous researcher in the field of microbiology. Already in 1889 he was the co-discoverer of the dysentery bacillus and in the early ninetees the did breakthrough research on vibrio cholerae. Bacteriology and serology were all his life his main interests, more than histology and anatomic pathology.