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Physiology at the University of Turin, Vesalius, VI, 2,114-119, 2000a continuous passage of chemical compoundsfrom the inorganic tot the organic world and livingorganisms. The book contained severe criticismsof some fundamentalist religious beliefs, which afew years later (1859) would seriously be attackedby the publication of the Origin of the Species ofCharles Darwin. In the climate of this controversy,which included the debate between vitalism andmechanicalism, Moleschott openly said that oneof the objectives of science, and of his own research,was the fight against any kind of religious belief.The consequence of the publication of «Thecirculation of life» was the dismissal of Moleschottfrom the University of Heidelberg in 1854.Afterwards he taught a few years in Zurich, wherehe met the Italian Minister of Education FrancescoDe Sanctis, who invited him to teach physiologyin Turin. De Sanctis' invitation aimed at enrichingthe Italian cultural horizon with the new ideasgrowing in the international context (Pogliano1990). However, as said above, Turin wasculturally still rather conservative. Thus it was noteasy for De Sanctis to win the reluctace of theHigh National Council of Education and of theUniversity Senate to open the doors to a scientistwho was not only a materialistic thinker but alsoa sympathizer of socialism (Gravela 1994).The arrival of Moleschott in Turin representeda real renewal of physiological research, which forthe first time in Italy began to be based on solidexperimental grounds, or, better, began to be ascience instead of mere speculation. Worthy ofnote are the investigations performed by Moleschotton white and red blood cells as well as on embryosand on the effect of light on the production ofcarbon dioxide by animals. Moleschott attributedthis effect to a stimulus directly exerted on tissuemetabolism, without any intervention of vision.Although a number of Moleschott's results werelater found incorrect, they clearly showed theimportance of experiments in biological sciences.The thesis upheld in «The circulation of life»,became the frame of reference for all his laterfindings and statements. Thus what atthe beginningwas presumed to be the arrival of scientific investigations,becamethe starting pointfora new deductivesystem, capableof explaining all natural phenomena;what could have been a fruitful methodologicalmaterialism became a rather mystic philosophical,and perhaps pantheistic, materialism.Since the public is usually impressed more bygeneral ideas than by specific scientific results,Moleschott's ideas became popular outside thescientific community. It is interesting that even thepoet Gabriele D'Annunzio suggested the need tobase poetry on physiology, independently of the factthat he probably had no idea of what physiology was.In Turin Moleschott's experimental methodwas fruitful also in other areas of biology. In 1881,two years after he left Turin to teach at the Universityof Rome, Giulio Bizzozero, Professorof GeneralPathology, presented a communication about hisdiscovery of platelets at the Royal Academy ofMedicine (Bizzozero 1882). Such a discovery isan indication that in the medical faculty of Turin,Moleschott actually founded a type of schoolinspired to positivist philosophy or, at least, topositivist scientific methodology. Apart fromBizzozero, who was personally encouraged byMoleschott in his research on platelets, this schoolincluded personalities like Piero Giacosa, Professorof Pharmacology, Giacomini, Professor ofAnatomy, Timermans, Professorof Internal MedicinePacchiotti, Professorof Propedutics. Surgery,plus his young co-workers in physiology, Paglianiand Mosso (Dianzani 1994).In 1879 Moleschott left Turin for the Universityof Rome, La Sapienza. His chair in Torino wasthen assigned to his former pupil Angelo Mosso(1846-1910). The term «formerpupil» is necessary,because Mosso afterobtaining his medical degreein 1870, went to Florence to do his military service.In Florence he had the opportunity to meet theGerman scientist Moritz Schiff, head of theLaboratory of Physiology of the Institute of HigherStudies. After military service he worked for a brief117
Physiology at the University of Turin, Vesalius, VI, 2,114-119, 2000period in that laboratory. In 1873 Mosso went tothe University of Leipzig, where he attended theLaboratory of Physiology of Karl Ludwig until 1874(Pinotti 1987; Cosmacini 1992).Karl Ludwig was a strong supporter ofmechanicalism, but, unlike Moleschott who is mainlyremembered for his philosophy, he is still famoustoday as the inventor of the kymograph, a rotatingdrum used to record time-dependent physiologicalphenomena. The invention of the kymographrepresented a milestone in the history of life sciences,because itfavoured the passage of physiologicalstudies from morphological observations andchemical analysis to the dynamic recording of vitalprocesses. Although morphological observationsand chemical analysis were already based on solidexperimental procedures, I think that modernphysiology as a well defined discipline among theother biological sciences, was born with the adventof the recording systems.Before returning to Italy, Mosso spent a shortperiod in Paris to visit the laboratories of JulesEtienne Marey, Claude Bernard and CharlesEdward Brown-Sequard. It is likely that the mainreason of his visit to Paris was a desire to learn theuse of the capsule of Marey, a very simple butuseful device, which allowed the transfer of somemovements such as the pulsation of the arteries,to the kymograph where they were recorded.Mosso in fact used the capsule of Marey as atransducer in several experimental set-ups. Afterhis return to Italy, Mosso was first appointed liberodecente in pharmacology. The position of liberodecente was the equivalent of the position of privatdozent in Germany. He was also appointedprofessor-protempore of the same subject. Finally,when Moleschott went to Rome, he obtained thechair of physiology as a full professor.The most remarkable merit of Mosso was that ofbringing the recording procedure to Italy. As he fullyunderstood the innovative importance of the newmethod, he invented a number of instruments forthe dynamic recording of the processes occurring ina living organism. The most famous of theseinstruments are the ergograph for the study ofmuscular work and fatigue, the plethysmograph forthe study of the changes in volume of the limbs independence on the blood flow, the pneumographfor the recording of the movements of the thoraciccage in respiration, the ponometer which allowedhim to distinguish between muscular and nervousfatigue and the sphygmomanometer with which herecorded accurate curves of the arterial blood pressure.Starting from the general principale whichcharacterized Mosso's sphygmomanometer, in1896 Scipione Riva-Rocci, assistant professor ofinternal medicine invented his own sphygmomanometerwhich is still used today.Thanks to the appropriate use of the aboveinstruments Mosso's investigations wereextended to a large area of physiology fromcirculation to respiration, neurophysiology, musclephysiology, metabolism, etc. He was also thefirst scientist to study the effect of high altitudeson the vital functions in man. Inparticularthisfieldof research offered him the opportunity to displayhis ability as an organizer, with the construction oftwo important scientific laboratories: the CapannaRegina Marcherita (Queen Margherita Hut) at4558 m on Punta Gniffetti of Mount Rosa in 1893and the Laboratory at the Col d'Olen at 2995 m in1907. After his death the latter was given thename of "Istituto Scientifico Angelo Mosso", andis now a property of the University of Turin.As an organizer Mosso was also responsiblefor the relocation of the Institute of Physiologyfrom the few rooms it occupied before to the newlarge building where it is now. Under his chairmanshipthe new Institute with its modern andwell equipped laboratories soon became famousall over the world and attracted highly qualifiedforeign scientists to Turin.Since positivism involved a strong confidence inscience as a means to solve all problems of mankindwith the knowledge of what was believed to be thedefinitive truth, Mosso felt an obligation to write books118
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