Georg Schmorl

SCHMORL, Georg (1861–1932), a distinguished German pathologist. Upon graduating from the medical faculty in Freiburg, he devoted himself to pathological anatomy. Until 1894, he served as senior assistant at the Department of Pathological Anatomy in Leipzig (under Professor Birch-Hirschfeld). From 1894, he held the position of prosector at the Friedrichstadt Hospital in Dresden, remaining there until his death. In 1902, he received the title of professor. Schmorl enjoyed the reputation of being the finest hospital prosector, both in terms of the high organization of the prosector's office and his enormous personal experience, which attracted numerous pupils to him.

Among Schmorl's more than 200 scientific works, the most important are those devoted to the pathological anatomy of tuberculosis (on early changes in tuberculosis, on placental tuberculosis infection, on the vascular focus as the basis of miliary tuberculosis), works on eclampsia (elucidating the nature of changes in the liver), and on the adrenaline content of the adrenal glands (the first work on this subject). However, Schmorl is best known for his investigations into the pathological anatomy of bone diseases; his works on Barlow's disease, osteomalacia, Paget's disease, and osteitis fibrosa are considered classical. Finally, in recent years, Schmorl produced a series of highly valuable works on the pathological anatomy of the spine, in which he made several discoveries relating to the intervertebral discs. Schmorl is also known as the author of a manual on pathohistological technique that went through 15 editions. Schmorl served as secretary of the German Pathological Society from its very foundation. Schmorl died of sepsis resulting from a scratch received while sawing a spine.