One of the founders of Russian clinical medicine, the first in Russia to put its study on a natural scientific basis. Founder of the largest school of Russian clinicians, professor at the Military Medical Academy (1861).
Main scientific works
“On the absorption of fat in the intestines” (1860); “Course in the clinic of internal diseases.” Issue 1-3. (1867-1875); “On the mobility of the kidneys” (1884); “Based’s disease and a tired heart” (1885); “Clinical lectures by S.P. Botkin. Issue 1-3. (1887-1888).
Contribution to the development of medicine
The founder of the largest therapeutic school (45 out of 106 students of S.P. Botkin headed clinical departments in various cities of Russia, 85 defended dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Among his students are I.P. Pavlov, A.G. Polotebnov, V. G. Lashkevich, N. Ya. Chistovich, V. P. Obraztsov, V. N. Sirotinin, V. A. Manassein, I. I. Molesson, N. P. Simanovsky, N. A. Vinogradov, etc.)
In 1860-1861 organized the first clinical experimental laboratory, where the first studies in Russia on clinical pharmacology and experimental therapy were carried out.
For the first time in the history of Russian science, a fruitful union of medicine and physiology was realized. He widely introduced physical and chemical research methods into the clinic.
Created a new direction in medicine, named by I.P. Pavlov nervousness. His views were based on a materialistic understanding of the organism as a whole, inextricably linked with its environment and controlled by the nervous system. He considered the nervous system to be the main carrier of the unity of the body.
For the first time he described the clinical picture of infectious hepatitis (“ Botkin's disease"), recognizing it as a common infectious disease. He contributed a lot to the study of rheumatism, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, lung diseases, typhus, typhoid and relapsing fever.
In the clinic of S.P. Botkin, after careful scientific development, oxygen therapy was first used for diseases of the lungs, bronchi and nervous system.
Together with his students, he established the participation of the spleen in blood deposition (1875), which was later confirmed by the experiments of the English physiologist J. Barcroft.
He significantly expanded the description of the clinic of Graves' disease (named after the German doctor Graves, who described it in 1840). Author of the neurogenic theory of the pathogenesis of Graves' disease. He gave a comprehensive description of the clinical picture of a mobile kidney and scientifically substantiated the method of its recognition. Revealed the difference between nephritis and nephrosis. He was the first to describe in detail lobar pneumonia, its etiology and pathogenesis.
One of the founders of military field therapy.
He expressed the thesis about the existence of physiological mechanisms in the body that give it the ability to fight diseases.
Together with his students, he studied in experiments and clinics the effect of medicines (digitalis, lily of the valley, adonis, potassium salts, etc.). S.P. Botkin viewed medicine as "the science of preventing disease and treat the patient."
He was an active public figure. In 1878 he was elected chairman of the Society of Russian Doctors, remaining in this post until the last days of his life. He contributed to the founding of women's medical courses in 1872.
The initiator of the organization of free medical care “for the poor classes”, the construction of the Alexander Barracks Hospital in St. Petersburg, which became exemplary in medical and scientific terms.
In 1880 he began publishing the Weekly Clinical Newspaper.
In 1882, as chairman of the Subcommittee on School Sanitary Supervision in city schools, he successfully organized the fight against a severe epidemic of diphtheria and scarlet fever.
Botkin, Sergey Petrovich
Famous Russian doctor and professor; genus. in Moscow on September 5, 1832, d. in Menton on December 12, 1889 Botkin came from a purely Russian family. His grandfather lived in the city of Toropets, Pskov province and was engaged in trade. His father Petr Kononovich, at the end of the 18th century. moved to Moscow and in 1801 joined the merchant class. He was one of the main organizers of the tea trade in Kyakhta, had significant wealth, was married twice and left behind 9 sons and 5 daughters. All the children of Pyotr Kononovich were distinguished by their remarkable abilities. The Botkin family was in close contact with the scientific and literary world, especially from the time when one of Pyotr Kononovich’s daughters married the poet Fet, and the other married Moscow University professor P. L. Pikulin. Granovsky, who lived in their house, also had a close relationship with the Botkins. Sergei Petrovich was the 11th child in his family; he was born from his father’s second marriage (with A.I. Postnikova) and was brought up under the direct supervision and influence of his brother Vasily, who made every effort to ensure that this upbringing was solid and versatile. Botkin's first teacher was a student at Moscow University, Merchinsky, a good teacher, whose influence on the student was very strong, and with whom Botkin remained in friendly relations throughout his life. Already at an early age he was distinguished by his outstanding abilities and love of learning. Until the age of 15, he was raised at home, and then, in 1847, he entered the Ennes private boarding school, which was considered the best in Moscow, as a half-boarder. The teachers at the boarding school were very talented teachers, among whom we find the names: the collector of fairy tales A. N. Afanasyev, who gave lessons in the Russian language and Russian history, the mathematician Yu. K. Davidov, who soon occupied a department at Moscow University, the future professor of political economy I. K. Babst, who taught general history at the boarding school, and the learned linguists Klin, Felkel and Shor, who taught foreign languages and at the same time were lecturers at the university. Under the influence of excellent teaching, Botkin's natural abilities manifested themselves with particular strength, despite his physical disability, which consisted of an irregular curvature of the cornea (astigmatism) and caused such weakness of vision that when reading Botkin had to hold a book at a distance of 2-3 inches from the eyes. With the exception of this drawback, Botkin then enjoyed excellent health and was distinguished by great physical strength. He was considered one of the best students at the boarding school; He studied mathematics with particular zeal, a love for which Merchinsky instilled in him. After staying at the boarding school for 3 years, Botkin prepared for the entrance exam to the university. He intended to enter the Faculty of Mathematics, but he did not succeed due to the decree of Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich that then came into force, which allowed free admission of students only to the Faculty of Medicine and closed admission to other university faculties to all students except the best students of state gymnasiums. This resolution was an indirect reason for Botkin’s admission to the Faculty of Medicine. In August 1850, Botkin became a student at Moscow University, which was then dominated by the most severe external discipline. In the very first month of his student life, Botkin experienced it himself, serving a day in a punishment cell for not fastening the hooks of his uniform collar. Scientific interests among the students of that time were almost absent, but in this respect Botkin stood out sharply from among his comrades: he diligently attended and recorded lectures and, completely devoting himself to scientific studies, soon discovered a love for his chosen specialty. The general state of teaching was unsatisfactory in many respects. In 1881, Botkin characterized him with the following words: “Having studied at Moscow University from 1850 to 1855, I witnessed the then direction of an entire medical school. Most of our professors studied in Germany and more or less talentedly passed on to us the knowledge they acquired; we listened to them diligently and at the end of the course considered themselves ready-made doctors, with ready-made answers to every question that arises in practical life. There is no doubt that with this direction of those completing the course it was difficult to wait for future researchers. Our future was destroyed by our school, which, teaching us knowledge in the form of catechismal truths, did not arouse in us that inquisitiveness that determines further development." Nevertheless, it is impossible not to point out that among S.P. Botkin’s teachers at the university there were many professors who were outstanding for their talents, scientific excellence and conscientiousness.
The most gifted and popular of them was the surgeon Inozemtsev, who had great influence on Botkin and his comrades. A. I. Polunin, a young professor who returned from abroad in 1847 and taught pathological anatomy, general pathology and general therapy, was also a very remarkable medical figure and, according to S. P. Botkin himself, had “without a doubt greatest influence on the development of students. In the 5th year, the study of internal diseases was very satisfactory. The clinic was headed by a well-educated and efficient professor, I.V. Varvinsky. His young adjunct, P. L. Pikulin, was distinguished by outstanding abilities, and under his leadership Botkin and all the students enthusiastically and tirelessly practiced tapping, auscultation and other diagnostic techniques. Already in his fifth year, Botkin acquired a reputation among his comrades as an expert in tapping and listening. At the beginning of the Crimean War, Botkin was in his fourth year; The authorities invited this course to immediately go to war, but the students refused, realizing the inadequacy of their scientific training. The following year, the medical faculty graduated two months earlier than usual. Botkin was the only one in his class who passed the exam not for the title of doctor, but for the degree of doctor, which was a rare occurrence in Russian universities, with the exception of Dorpat.
Soon after completing the course, Botkin went to war in N.I. Pirogov’s detachment. This trip made the most painful impression on him. In a speech on the occasion of Pirogov’s 50th anniversary, published in the Weekly Clinical Newspaper (No. 20, 1881), Botkin spoke about the state of affairs at that time: “to ensure that the piece of meat or bread prescribed for the patient reaches it was completely intact, without being reduced to the minimum - it was not an easy matter in those days and in that layer of society that treated government property as a public birthday cake offered for consumption... By order of Pirogov, we received in the kitchen meat by weight, sealed the cauldrons so that it was impossible to remove the voluminous contents from it - nevertheless, our broth was still not successful: they found the opportunity, even with such supervision, to deprive the patients of their rightful portion." - Weakness of vision prevented Botkin from successfully engaging in surgery ; in addition, he had to work too hastily, and the stay at the theater of military operations itself was very short. For 3½ months, Botkin corrected the duties of a resident of the Simferopol hospital and earned a very flattering review from Pirogov. In December 1855, Botkin returned to Moscow and from there went abroad to complete his education. Initially, he did not have a definite plan for his trip abroad, but in Konigsberg, on the advice of one of Hirsch’s assistants, he decided to study with Virchow, who at that time was still working in Würzburg, although he had already been invited to Berlin. In Würzburg, Botkin studied normal and pathological histology with ardor and enthusiasm and listened to lectures by the famous teacher, whose works gave all modern medicine a new direction. In the autumn of 1856, Botkin, together with Virchow, moved to Berlin, where he spent whole days in the new pathological institute and in the Hoppe-Seyler laboratory. At the same time, he diligently visited the clinic of Traube, who attracted him with his extreme powers of observation, combined with thorough scientific training and with a very careful and comprehensive application of objective methods of research. From time to time, Botkin visited the clinics of the neuropathologist Romberg and the syphilidologist Berensprung. - Constantly studying with Virchow and not missing a single autopsy he performed, Botkin spent two years in Berlin. Having perfectly mastered microscopic technology and methods of chemical research, at that time he produced his first independent scientific works, published in the Virchow Archive, and made the first printed report in Russian about the Soleil polarization apparatus. In Berlin, Botkin became very close friends with the Russian scientists Junge and Beckers and entered into close friendly relations with Sechenov, which lasted throughout his life. This time, spent in intensive scientific work in a community with new friends who sought to satisfy common spiritual needs, the time of the flourishing of young forces, left Botkin with the warmest memories that he kept all his life. He spent his summer vacations in Moscow, where (around 1857) he first fell ill with hepatic colic, which manifested itself in very violent attacks. In December 1858, Botkin moved from Berlin to Vienna and there, continuing microscopic research, very diligently attended Ludwig's lectures and studied at the Oppolzer clinic. He admired Ludwig; in the Oppolzer clinic he found the scientific approach to the matter very insufficient. - In Vienna, he married the daughter of a Moscow official, A. A. Krylova, who had a very good education, and soon went on a trip, during which he visited Central Germany, became acquainted with the Rhine mineral waters, visited Switzerland, England and in the fall of 1859 . arrived in Paris.
Botkin's scientific activity in Vienna is characterized by his letters to Belogolovy; These same letters outline his attitude towards the Vienna and Berlin medical schools. On January 2, 1859, he writes from Vienna: “...All the holidays passed unnoticed for me, because the lectures continued, with the exception of the first two days. Until now, I am completely satisfied only with Ludwig’s lectures, which surpass all expectations in clarity and completeness presentation; I have never heard a better physiologist; Ludwig’s personality is the sweetest, his simplicity and courtesy in his manner are amazing. Oppolzer is undoubtedly an excellent practitioner, but he sins so often against science that he still cannot be called a good clinician in the full sense of the word. It often happens to him to lie against chemistry, against pathological anatomy, even against physiology, but for all that he is an excellent observer, a sharp diagnostician, - in general, the type of good practical doctor. However, we'll see what happens next. Gebra is good with a terrible amount of material, what he presents to the audience, but Berensprung's lectures are a thousand times more scientific and practical, and I am glad that I listened to the Berlin dermatologist, the sworn enemy of the Viennese one. In addition to these lectures, I worked a lot at home with blood globules and, it seems, I will soon finish this work. Until now, I have left my suburb of Alser-vorstadt no more than two or three times into the city, which, in my opinion, is no match for Berlin. I positively do not like Vienna, and its inhabitants even less; the intellectual physiognomy of the northern man disappears here and is replaced by a slavish, insinuating one; the people here are such slaves that it’s disgusting to look at them, they climb to kiss hands and almost allow themselves to be hit on the cheeks dem gnädigen Herrn. My apartment, although expensive, is excellent; I’m not writing you the address because I forgot the name of the street; write to Sechenov in the meantime. Bow to Goppa, Magavli and all of Berlin, which I often remember."... In the second letter, dated February 2, Botkin informs Belogolov about his imminent wedding and writes: "... I was attacked by such a spirit of activity that I I could barely cope with it. Worked from 8 o'clock. in the morning until 12 constantly, did not go anywhere except for medical needs. Under the nervous excitement of waiting for letters (from my fiancée), my work went like clockwork and almost every week gave me results, of which I am telling you one, extremely important one; You will only tell Hoppa about it in confidence, asking him to keep it to yourself: urea dissolves human and dog blood cells, therefore not having the same effect on them as on frogs. The fact is extremely important for physiology and pathology, I will study it further by doing experiments with injections of urea into the veins. Ludwig invites me to work with him, which I will probably take advantage of over time. Tell Hoppe that I will be visiting them in Berlin in the summer, which I am sincerely happy about, because I am completely dissatisfied with Vienna, and I am staying in it only to clear my pathological conscience. It’s a sin for a decent person to spend more than three months in Vienna, so keep this in mind and take advantage of Berlin!”... Botkin spent the entire winter of 1859-60 and part of the summer in Paris, where he listened to lectures by C. Bernard and visited the clinics of Barthez, Trousseau, Bushu, etc. Here he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the absorption of fat in the intestines, which he subsequently sent to the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy for consideration; here he completed two scientific works: on blood and on protein endosmosis, which he placed in the Virchow Archive .
Even before his trip abroad, Botkin entered into relations with the Honored Professor of the Medical-Surgical Academy Shipulinsky, who was in charge of the academic therapeutic clinic. In 1858, Shipulinsky reported to the academy conference that doctoral student S.P. Botkin, a graduate of Moscow University, approached him with an offer to fill the vacant position of adjunct at the academic therapeutic clinic after the departure of Dr. Ivanovsky. Finding Botkin's proposal extremely beneficial for the academy, Shipulinsky asked the conference to keep him in mind as a candidate, to which the conference fully agreed; At the same time, Shipulinsky mentioned in his report that Botkin could take the place of adjunct no earlier than a year and a half later, since he went abroad for improvement. A year after this, Shipulinsky again reminded the conference about Botkin and asked to appoint another doctor to temporarily fill the post of adjunct before his arrival.
In 1857, Prof. P. A. Dubovitsky, who invited Glebov to the position of vice-president and, together with him, ardently set about radical changes in the internal life of the academy. This activity was also reflected in the selection of new teachers. At the end of 1859, the following were invited to the academy: Yakubovich, Botkin, Sechenov, Bekkers and Junge; they were all still abroad. Except for Yakubovich, all were students of Moscow University, where they graduated only 3-4 years ago. Mention has already been made of the close friendship established between them abroad. Botkin accepted the invitation, but negotiated for himself the right to come to St. Petersburg in the fall of 1860 to finish his scientific works and become familiar with the Parisian medical school. On August 10, 1860, he moved to St. Petersburg, defended his dissertation and was immediately appointed to the post of adjunct at the 4th year clinic, which was headed by prof. Shipulinsky. Belogolovy says that soon after this, misunderstandings arose between Botkin and Shipulinsky, since, seeing the superiority of the first, students began to attend his lectures more willingly than those of his patron. Less than a month later, the relationship between the two teachers “deteriorated to the point of impossibility, so that after several diagnostic tournaments over the bedside of patients, in which the victory remained with the young scientist, Shipulinsky resigned less than a year later.” Prof. Sirotinin denies the accuracy of this information, “for the words of S.P. himself speak against this,” who “in his letter to his brother Mikhail Petrovich indicates with surprise that after his return to the city in the fall, already in 1862, he learned about a change in attitude to him, what happened with Shipulinsky, and that the latter obviously betrayed his word given to Botkin in the spring, that in the fall he would no longer give lectures and would completely leave the matter to Botkin until his imminent resignation." During the first year of Botkin's activity under Shipulinsky, he often remained the complete owner of the clinic, probably due to Shipulinsky's illness. All conference papers related to the 4th year clinic were signed by Botkin. To teach students precise physical and chemical research methods and to develop various scientific questions, Botkin set up a clinical laboratory (with 1,200 rubles allocated to him for this purpose by the conference); this laboratory was one of the first in Europe.
At that time, there were two parties among the professors of the academy - German and Russian. The first of them was very strong, and the second was just emerging. In 1861, when Shipulinsky resigned, the German party intended to elect one of the senior professors to the vacant department: V. E. Eck or V. V. Besser. Having learned about this, Botkin said that he would resign if he did not receive the clinic promised to him. Doctors who listened to Botkin’s lectures and in a short time already rated him very highly, sent a letter to the conference in which they asked to appoint him to the 4th year department, characterizing Botkin’s merits as follows: “Convinced of the need for a thorough study of pathological chemistry and practical acquaintance with physical and chemical methods of studying patients, we felt deeply grateful to the academy conference, which invited a mentor to our main therapeutic clinic, who completely satisfied this need expressed by us, during his one-year stay in the clinic he managed to acquaint his listeners with modern clinical improvements and, having a full command of all scientific the means necessary for the complex duties of a clinician, both his excellent teaching talent and practical medical information, managed to attract to his clinic many outside listeners and many people who wanted to work under his leadership. The clinical laboratory he established provided the means for this and remains a capital acquisition of the clinic . In a word, the past year has clearly shown us that in Sergei Petrovich Botkin we have the only and irreplaceable professor who can satisfy the needs expressed by us, which have become a necessary ingredient of medical education, needs already met in the best German clinics and so fully satisfied by S.P. Botkin ". The opinions expressed about Botkin in this letter are of great importance, since it was signed by doctors who were very outstanding in their talents, the vast majority of whom subsequently occupied professorial chairs in Russian universities. The petition expressed in this letter was joined by some professors and students of the academy. All this greatly contributed to the election of Botkin, which took place at the end of 1861.
Having received the academic clinic of internal diseases at his disposal, Botkin pursued the matter with the utmost energy. He arranged a reception for incoming patients at the clinic, which was completely new, and during this reception he read entire lectures for students and doctors, presenting a thorough analysis of the patients. The clinic's laboratory soon expanded, and scientific work began to boil there. Under the direct supervision of Botkin, his students began to develop new scientific questions raised by their teacher, who, for his part, continued to study and develop his subtle powers of observation. Having sacrificed almost all his other life interests to science, Botkin devoted himself entirely to the clinic, without being distracted from it by private practice or even concerns about maintaining his health and the financial support of his family, whom he nevertheless loved very dearly. In a letter to his brother, Mikhail Petrovich (December 10, 1861), he describes his everyday day as follows: “During the week, I have nothing to think about writing or about any extraneous activity; here is my everyday day: in the morning, as you get up, go to the clinic, give a lecture for about two hours, then finish your visit, outpatients come who won’t even let you smoke a cigar in peace after the lecture. You’ve just checked in with the patients, sit down to work in the laboratory, and now it’s already the third hour, what remains is - a little over an hour before lunch, and this hour you usually devote to city practice, if it turns out to be one, which is very rare, especially now, although my fame is thundering throughout the city. At five o'clock you return home pretty tired, sit down for dinner with your family. Usually tired. so that you barely eat and think from the very soup about how to go to bed; after a whole hour of rest you begin to feel like a human being; in the evenings now I go to the hospital, and after getting up from the sofa I sit down for half an hour at the cello and then sit down to prepare for the lecture another day; the work is interrupted by a short intermission for tea. You usually work until one o’clock and, having had dinner, happily go to bed...”
Botkin usually carefully prepared and collected materials for each of his lectures; therefore they bore the stamp of strictly considered work. In his lectures he invested the entire stock of new observations he acquired during clinical research, and since they were accompanied by the most thorough analysis of patients, it is clear why these lectures, despite the complete lack of effects and ostentatious eloquence in them, were precious to listeners. His ardent passion for scientific work and love for the art of medicine were noticeable in every act of the professor and were passed on to his students, who, imitating him, worked hard in the clinic. Soon a whole school of young scientists formed around Botkin, and the clinic became the best in all of Europe. The best of Botkin's contemporary clinicians, Traube, in the opinion of many doctors, was inferior to him in some respects. The direction of Botkin’s clinical activity and his view of the tasks of medical art and the methods of performing these tasks are expressed by him himself in the introduction to the printed edition of his lectures, written by him on May 8, 1867: “The most important and essential tasks of practical medicine are disease prevention, treatment developed disease and, finally, alleviating the suffering of a sick person. The only way to accomplish these lofty tasks is the study of nature, the study of healthy and sick animal organisms. If the life of an animal organism were subsumed under precise mathematical laws, then the application of our natural scientific information to individual cases would not would then encounter no difficulties... But the mechanism and chemistry of the animal organism are so complex that, despite all the efforts of the human mind, it has not yet been possible to bring the various manifestations of life of both a healthy and a sick organism under mathematical laws. The circumstance that places medical sciences among the inexact sciences greatly complicates their application to individual individuals. Anyone familiar with algebra will not find it difficult to solve an equation problem with one or more unknowns; solving the problems of practical medicine is another matter: one can be familiar with physiology, and pathology, and with the means that we use in treating a sick organism, and yet, without the ability to apply this knowledge to individual individuals, not be able solve the presented problem, even if its solution does not go beyond the limits of the possible. This ability to apply natural science to individual cases constitutes the actual art of healing, which, therefore, is the result of the inaccuracy of medical sciences. It is clear that the importance of medical art will decrease as the accuracy and positivity of our information increases. What enormous skill must have been possessed by the doctor of old times, who knew neither physiology nor pathological anatomy, unfamiliar with either chemical or physical methods of research, in order to benefit his neighbor. Only through long experience and special personal talents did the doctors of old times achieve their difficult task. Nowadays, this ability to apply the theoretical information of medical sciences to individual individuals no longer constitutes an art inaccessible to mere mortals, as in the past. However, even in our time you need to have a certain amount of experience, a certain skill. Each doctor, during his practical activity, develops this skill to varying degrees, depending on more or less significant material, on more or less conscious development and analysis of cases presented to his observation. With all this, this skill or medical art can be passed on successively, can be inherited, under the guidance of an experienced doctor, as is done in the clinical teaching of medicine. But the inevitable condition here for anyone who wants to achieve the ability to apply theoretical medical information to given individuals, without those painful difficulties that await a beginner left to his own strengths at the bedside of a sick person, is the conscious solution of a certain number of practical problems under the guidance of a teacher. Once convinced that the student cannot be introduced during clinical teaching to all the various individual manifestations of the life of a sick organism, the clinician-teacher sets himself the first task of conveying to the students the method, guided by which the young practitioner would subsequently be able to independently apply his theoretical medical information to sick individuals who he meets in his practical field." Further, Botkin points to the enormous importance of greater or lesser accuracy "in determining the individuality that presents itself. A possible multilateral and impartial study of the patient, a critical assessment of the facts discovered by this study constitute the main grounds for that theoretical conclusion - the hypothesis that we are obliged to build about each case that presents itself." Then the author lists the various methods of medical research, pointing out the significance that follows attach these methods, and, having proven the advantages of objective research over collecting information through questioning patients, advises listeners to start with a detailed physical examination and only then ask the patient about his subjective feelings and complaints. Having considered a rational way of identifying a disease, predicting its further course and treatment, Botkin points out the importance of post-mortem anatomical research and says: “No amount of material will be enough for the correct development of the ability to apply one’s medical information with a humane purpose to individual individuals, if the doctor does not to have the opportunity from time to time to test your hypotheses on the anatomical table." The article ends with the words: “Everything we have said regarding research, the analysis of the facts discovered through it and the conclusion on the basis of which treatment is prescribed varies to the highest degree in each case that presents itself, and only by the conscious solution of a number of practical problems is it possible to fulfill the humane goal of the medical sciences. The exercise of solving these problems constitutes clinical teaching."
Strictly fulfilling the requirements that he made to his students, Botkin steadily carried out in his activities the principles he announced from the department; therefore, along with his popularity among doctors and students, his fame as a diagnostician increased. Several particularly brilliant diagnoses soon brought him honorable fame among doctors and the rest of Russian society. He made a particularly remarkable diagnosis in the 1862-1863 academic year, recognizing portal vein thrombosis in a patient during his lifetime. Botkin's enemies laughed at this diagnosis, being confident in advance that it would not be justified; but the autopsy showed that the recognition was correct. According to Professor Sirotinin, “even today such a diagnosis, due to its difficulty, would be one of the most brilliant for any clinician, but at that time, it, of course, constituted a whole event in the life of the academy.” After this incident, the fame established for Botkin began to attract many patients to him for home appointments, which was the cause of constant overwork and caused a significant deterioration in his general health. At the beginning of 1864, he contracted typhus in the clinic, which was very difficult for him, with severe symptoms from the nervous system. Recovery proceeded very slowly, and in the spring Botkin went to Italy. Before leaving, he wrote to Belogolovy: “It is unlikely that again in my life I will be tired to such an extent as I was exhausted this semester.”
The trip abroad we mentioned was already the second after Botkin’s election as a professor: in the summer of 1862, he was in Berlin, where he resumed his scientific research, after finishing which he went on vacation to Trouville for sea bathing. Due to his old acquaintance with Herzen, upon returning to Russia he was subjected to a strict search at the border; The explanations he gave dispelled the misunderstanding, but this incident made a grave impression on Botkin, which intensified after his arrival in Petersburg, where student unrest was then taking place caused by the new university charter.
In 1864, after resting in Rome after typhus, he again came to Berlin and worked hard at Virchow's pathological institute. From Botkin’s correspondence with Belogolov, we see with what enthusiasm and fervor he devoted himself to scientific work. In the summer of 1864, he wrote the following letter, which is very important for describing his mental makeup: “... all this time I worked very regularly. Not to mention the fact that I read death, I also did a whole job, and for the sake of it you are not scold me. I took up the frogs and, sitting at them, discovered a new curare in the form of atropine sulfate; I had to do with it all the experiments that had been done with curare. Novelty of working methods (I have not worked in this department yet), successful results and the instructiveness of the work itself captivated me to such an extent that I sat with the frogs from morning to night, and would have sat longer if my wife had not kicked me out of the office, finally driven out of patience by long attacks of my, as she says, insanity. I finished this work so much that I sent a preliminary message to the local new German magazine. I am extremely grateful to this work, it taught me a lot. Having finished it, I saw that August was outside, I remembered that little had been done for lectures to students, at least from what was assigned, and with feverish trembling he began to read. To what extent any work consumes me, you cannot imagine; I resolutely die then to life; Wherever I go, no matter what I do, a frog with a cut nerve or a ligated artery sticks out before my eyes. All the time that I was under the spell of atropine sulfate, I did not even play the cello, which now stands abandoned in a corner." B O Botkin published most of the works he wrote at that time in Chistovich’s “Medical Bulletin”. In addition to independent work, he compiled extensive abstracts on the department of internal medicine for the Military Medical Journal. The content of these works was very extensive and, not to mention individual scientific articles, we find in each of his lectures new facts noticed and explained by him before they were indicated by other scientists. For the clinic of internal diseases, his works on the development of questions about the pathology of biliary colic, heart disease, typhoid, typhus and relapsing fever, mobile kidney, changes in the spleen in various diseases, gastrointestinal catarrh, etc. are of particular importance. In 1865, he proved that recurrent fever, which was considered to have long disappeared in Europe, exists and carefully studied its clinical picture. Botkin's scientific activity is remarkable for the constancy with which he pursued it throughout his entire medical career. Even in the last year of his life, he continued it, developing the issue of natural and premature old age. - In 1866, he undertook the publication of his lectures under the general title “Course of the Clinic of Internal Diseases”. The first edition of these lectures appeared in 1867; it contains a case study of one patient with complex heart disease; Regarding this patient, the author examines almost the entire teaching about heart diseases and their treatment. The book was met with great sympathy both here and abroad, and was soon translated into French and German. The following year, the 2nd edition of lectures was published (analysis of a patient with typhus and a detailed presentation of the doctrine of febrile diseases); this issue also soon appeared in French and German translations and greatly contributed to the wide scientific fame of the author. Numerous difficulties (illness, increased activity in the clinic, studies in the military-scientific committee, etc.) delayed further publication of the lectures, and their third edition was published only in 1875; it contains 2 articles: 1) on the contractility of the spleen and on the relationship to infectious diseases of the spleen, liver, kidneys and heart, 2) on reflex phenomena in the vessels of the skin and reflex sweat. This issue has been translated into German. It is known about the further fate of the publication that in 1877 Botkin invited students V.N. Sirotinin and Lapin, who recorded his lectures, to compile them and pass them on to him through an assistant; he intended to look through them and publish them, but the notes were lost. After graduating from the academy, Sirotinin became a resident at Botkin’s clinic and again invited him to publish his lectures. The lectures, compiled by Sirotinin partly from notes, partly from memory, were read by Botkin and published by him initially in the Weekly Clinical Newspaper, and in 1887 they were published as a separate publication. In 1888, the first edition of lectures compiled by Sirotinin was published in a second edition (with additions). Botkin’s remarkable speech “General Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine,” delivered by him at the gala ceremony at the Academy on December 7, 1886 and published in 1887, was again published during the lectures as an introduction. In this speech, the most remarkable are the final words: “It is necessary to have a true calling to the activity of a practical doctor in order to maintain mental balance under various unfavorable conditions of his life, without falling into despondency during failures, or into self-delusion during successes. The moral development of a practicing doctor will help him maintain that peace of mind that will give him the opportunity to fulfill his sacred duty to his neighbor and to his homeland, which will determine the true happiness of his life.” The third edition of lectures, in which 5 lectures were compiled by V. N. Sirotinin, two by M. V. Yanovsky and one by V. M. Borodulin, was published in 1891, after Botkin’s death; It comes with a portrait of the author. In 1899, the Society of Russian Doctors, to which Botkin’s family granted the right to publish his works, published two volumes of Botkin’s lectures with the appendix of 2 portraits of the author, his autograph, a view of his grave and a biographical sketch compiled by prof. V. N. Sirotinin. In addition to the works we have listed, Botkin’s scientific activity was expressed in the following. In 1866, he founded the Epidemiological Leaflet and the Epidemiological Society, the chairmanship of which he offered to E.V. Pelikan, who was considered the best epidemiologist of that time. The reason for the founding of the society was the approach of cholera to St. Petersburg. "Listok" was published for about 2 years under the editorship of Lovtsov; the society also did not last long, since epidemiology was not yet sufficiently developed and was of little interest to doctors. Botkin took an active part in society and in the newspaper. At the end of the 60s, Botkin began publishing a collection called “Archive of the Clinic of Internal Diseases of Prof. Botkin,” in which he included the most scientifically interesting works of his students. All this work was carried out on his initiative and with his direct participation. The archive was published until Botkin’s death and amounted to 13 large volumes. Its publication was expensive, since the demand for scholarly works was very small in our country. Due to the fact that the Archive was constantly growing, Botkin decided to place only large scientific works in it; the rest of the scientific material served him for the Weekly Clinical Newspaper, which he founded in 1880 to revive independent clinical casuistry in Russia. The Gazeta published exclusively original scientific research, although the lack of abstracts from foreign literature greatly reduced the number of subscribers. Despite this, Botkin considered it his duty to publish the newspaper until his death, realizing how necessary such independent publications were for Russia.
In 1878, the Society of Russian Doctors in St. Petersburg unanimously elected Botkin as its chairman. At the same time, a special deputation was sent from the Society to the new chairman, and at an emergency meeting appointed to receive him, the vice-chairman, prof. Pelekhin greeted him with a speech. Having mentioned the revolution in Russian medical science brought about by the works of Botkin and his school, he ended his speech with the words: “Our society in its protocols can serve almost as a photograph of these changes in a Russian student, doctor, professor; therefore, you understand, S.P. , our sympathy, the consciousness of our members is clear that you are destined to lead the Society on the path that all of Russia is following, all the Slavs are following." Indeed, Botkin’s participation in the affairs of the Society as chairman quickly enlivened the meetings and was very useful. By the way, this was expressed in a number of meetings devoted to the issue of the plague epidemic that appeared in Vetlyanka. The named epidemic caused an incident that had a very serious effect on Botkin’s state of mind. At the beginning of 1879, he noticed swelling of the lymph glands of the entire body in many patients, accompanied by other signs, on the basis of which he concluded that the plague infection had already been brought to St. Petersburg, although it had not yet manifested itself in a clearly defined form. Soon after this, he found in one of the visitors to his outpatient clinic, the janitor Naum Prokofiev, undoubted signs of a mild form of bubonic plague; Having examined the patient in the presence of students, Botkin recognized the need to strictly separate him from the rest of the patients, although he presented this case “as an illustration of his views on the existence of not completely isolated and mild forms of infectious diseases,” and categorically stated that “from this case, even if There were several of them, there was a huge distance to the plague epidemic,” and he made the reservation that this case was undoubtedly easy and would end well for the patient. The news of the appearance of the plague in St. Petersburg quickly spread and caused extreme panic. Two commissions, one from the mayor, the other from the medical council, examined the patient and declared that he did not have the plague, but an idiopathic bubo that developed on syphilitic grounds; a foreign specialist on syphilis also did not agree with Botkin’s diagnosis, who, nevertheless, on the basis of the undoubtedly existing signs of plague, defended his diagnosis. The patient recovered, and the quickly calmed society took up arms against Botkin; this was expressed in furious attacks from the press, which accused him of a lack of patriotism and some kind of conspiracy with the British. The brutal insults continued for several weeks, but Botkin remained convinced until the end of his life that his diagnosis was correct. At the first meeting of the Society of Russian Doctors after this incident, two addresses were read to Botkin: from all members of the Society and from doctors in the city of St. Petersburg; the second of them was signed by 220 doctors. Warm sympathy was expressed in these addresses, and the large audience present at the meeting gave him a warm ovation. Such a cordial welcome served Botkin as a great consolation in his misfortune, which nevertheless had a harmful effect on his health. At the same meeting of the Society, it turned out that other doctors had observed diseases similar to the plague in hospitals and in private practice; one of these cases, which took place under the supervision of V.I. Afanasyev, even ended fatally.
The scientific activity of S. P. Botkin had a highly beneficial effect on his students. At the time described, many of them had already created a scientific name for themselves, following the example and guidance of the teacher. Soon an independent medical school was formed around Botkin; many of the doctors who were his residents and assistants received independent professorships at provincial universities and at the academy. Botkin took an active part in the struggle between Russian and German doctors; at the same time, he did not follow the spirit of national hostility, but only sought to provide support to doctors of Russian origin. “That’s why,” says A. N. Belogolovy, “when we meet exclusively Russian names among his students, we see that these students were not overwritten, as was the case with their predecessors, but now enjoy an independent position - and that’s all.” unanimously admit that they owe both the material improvement of their fate and the moral rise of their self-awareness to a large extent to Botkin, both as a teacher and as an energetic defender of their interests.”
Around 1881, when hospital and sanitary affairs were transferred to the jurisdiction of the St. Petersburg city administration, many of the Duma's members expressed a desire to see S.P. Botkin in their midst. On March 21, 1881, he wrote to the chairman of the public health commission, V.I. Likhachev: “I hesitated for a long time before I decided to give my consent and not give up my choice as a member of the public. To take on another new responsibility with the mass of activities that "I have in my hands - the right is not easy, especially since you do not feel strong enough to conscientiously carry out yet another new task. On the other hand, it is ashamed to shirk a position in which, perhaps, you will bring some benefit." . Elected to the public Duma, Botkin became a member and deputy chairman of the public health commission. From January 1882, he took an active part in the organization and operation of the city barracks hospital for infectious patients as its trustee; it became his favorite brainchild, he spared no time, labor and money, and as a result, a clinical setting of the case was possible for the city hospital. In 1886, elected honorary trustee of all city hospitals and almshouses, Botkin made numerous radical improvements in them. Detailed instructions about Botkin’s activities as a member of the city government are found in the report of the city mayor, Likhachev (January 29, 1890). “During his almost 9-year stay as a member of the city public administration,” it says, “S.P. Botkin did not cease to take the most ardent part in all issues relating to the improvement of the capital through sanitary measures and improvement of hospital affairs, delving into the details projects for new hospitals being developed, monitored the more expedient distribution of patients, especially chronic patients, among medical institutions, advising, at the first opportunity, to allocate chronic and incurable patients to a special hospital, for which he recognized the main building of the Peter and Paul Hospital as the most suitable." Botkin’s activities were so beneficial for the city that after his death the Duma immortalized his memory by placing his portraits in the Duma hall and in 8 city hospitals. In addition, the city barracks hospital is named "Botkinskaya".
Since 1870, Botkin worked hard as an honorary physician; from now on, his supply of free time is already very limited. In 1871, he was entrusted with the treatment of the seriously ill Empress Maria Alexandrovna. In subsequent years, he accompanied the Empress several times abroad and to the south of Russia, for which he even had to stop lecturing at the academy. In 1877, Botkin accompanied Emperor Alexander II to war. Having departed in May, he returned in November. His letters from the theater of war to his second wife describe his activities during the war, his mentality and his impressions as a doctor who passionately loved his homeland. In addition, they present precious material covering many incidents of that era, the state of the army and the organization of sanitary and medical affairs in the war. After Botkin’s death, these letters were published and formed a highly interesting book: “Letters from Bulgaria by S.P. Botkin. St. Petersburg, 1893.” Botkin's private practice was constantly in the background. He treated patients who came to see him or invited him to their home with the same attention as he did to patients in the clinic, but he was aware that the activities of the first type were much less scientific and less useful, due to reasons beyond the control of the doctor. circumstances. In the clinic, the doctor has the opportunity to visit the patient every day and subject him to a comprehensive and thorough examination using various methods, the use of which, with very rare exceptions, is impossible in private practice. The doctor observes private patients only in fits and starts, and when visiting them at home, this is accompanied by an extreme lack of time to examine the patient. The treatment of private patients occurs in an insufficiently scientific environment, etc. It is not surprising, therefore, that already in 1863 he wrote to A. N. Belogolov: “It’s been three weeks since the lectures began; of all my activities, this is the only thing that I occupies and lives, the rest you pull like a strap, prescribing a lot of drugs that lead to almost nothing. This is not a phrase and will let you understand why practical activity in my clinic weighs me down so much. Having a huge amount of material from the chronicles, I begin to develop a sad conviction about the powerlessness of our therapeutic agents. Rarely will a clinic pass by without a bitter thought, for which I took money from more than half of the people, and forced them to spend money on one of our pharmaceutical products, which, having given relief for 24 hours, will not change anything significantly. Forgive me for the blues, but today I had a reception at home, and I am still under the fresh impression of this fruitless work.” From this letter it is clear that Botkin had attacks of that mental state, which Pirogov aptly dubbed “self-criticism.” However, private practice, which Botkin was so depressing, brought very great benefits, although it did not give such brilliant results as clinical practice. In addition to home visits, Botkin had a consulting practice, which was especially valuable for patients and doctors. During consultations, he provided tremendous assistance to doctors, solving with his authoritative opinion many cases that were confusing and scientifically complex. Thus, Botkin's extraordinary popularity arose very quickly and continuously increased throughout his career. A huge number of patients sought to entrust their health to him, and according to Belogolov’s fair expression, “every new patient became his unconditional admirer,” and “Botkin’s exploits as a practical humanist doctor and a most skillful fighter for the life entrusted to him... were deeply imprinted with ardent gratitude in the hearts the individuals he saved and their relatives."
Botkin's private life proceeded peacefully among his family. He was a family man in the best sense of the word and cared extremely about his loved ones. Botkin's favorite pastime was playing the cello, to which he devoted his leisure time and which he often became interested in. Botkin was married twice. The death of his first wife, Anastasia Alexandrovna, née Krylova (died in 1875) was a great misfortune for him, but time healed him, and he married a second time to Ekaterina Alekseevna Mordvinova, née Princess Obolenskaya. Botkin hardly enjoyed social pleasures; they were replaced by scientific activity. His entertainment was Saturdays, on which his friends and acquaintances gathered; at first it was a close circle of professors; in the early 70s, the community that attended Saturdays grew, and jourfixes turned into crowded, noisy receptions, which greatly consoled the good-natured, hospitable host. Botkin earned a lot, but was not at all money-loving; He lived simply, without any excesses, and if he lived on almost all his income, this was facilitated by his extensive charitable activities.
In 1872, Botkin was elected to the title of academician; At the same time he was awarded the title of honorary member of Kazan and Moscow universities. Since then, expressions of sympathy from society and the scientific world have been repeated frequently. By the end of his career, he was an honorary member of 35 Russian medical scientific societies and 9 foreign ones. In 1882, Botkin's admirers and students celebrated the 25th anniversary of his scientific activity. The celebration took place in the hall of the City Duma and was remarkable for the sympathy with which the entire Russian society reacted to it. The St. Petersburg Medical Academy, all Russian universities and many Russian and foreign medical societies elected Botkin as an honorary member. The reading of welcoming speeches and telegrams continued for several hours. The Medical Academy in its address characterized his merits with the following significant words: “Today marks the 25th anniversary of your glorious activity. Having given you great fame as a talented teacher, practical doctor and scientist, this activity had an unusually beneficial effect on the development and success of medicine in our country.” Meanwhile, Botkin’s strength was already broken and needed rest. In the same year, 1882, he began to develop heart disease, which was destined to take him to the grave. Until this year he suffered from biliary colic, which in recent years has bothered him less than usual; in the winter of 1881-1882, following an attack of hepatic colic, signs of an organic heart disorder developed. Severe pain forced him to spend 3 days in a chair, completely immobile. Neil Eve, who treated him at the time. Sokolov noticed signs of inflammation of the pericardial sac and an enlarged heart. Dr. Sokolov attributed the onset of this illness to 1879, when cruel injustice upset his mental balance. Having recovered from an attack of heart disease, Botkin immediately began his usual activities; While carrying out the treatment prescribed to him, he tried to avoid a sedentary lifestyle, walked a lot, did physical labor on his estate in the summer, and in the following years felt well. In 1886, he chaired a commission under the medical council on the issue of improving sanitary conditions and reducing mortality in Russia. The purpose for which this commission was convened turned out to be completely unattainable; Having taken a broad look at its task, the commission came to the conviction that “without reorganizing the administration of medical and sanitary institutions, it is not only impossible to do anything to improve the sanitary situation of the population, but it is also impossible to talk about, in the complete absence of data, on which such reasoning could to lean on." Therefore, the commission’s works did not produce any practical results and caused great disappointment. In the same year, Botkin’s beloved son died, and under the influence of grief, he resumed attacks of cardiac dysfunction, which soon took on the most severe character. Botkin suspected his real illness, but stubbornly denied it and tried to explain all the symptoms as the influence of hepatic colic. Subsequently, insisting on treating gallstones, he told Dr. Belogolovy: “after all, this is my only clue; if I have an independent heart disease, then I’m lost; if it’s functional, reflected from the gall bladder, then I can still get out.” . Botkin’s misconception was supported by the fact that, along with cardiac dysfunction, he also had recurring attacks of hepatic colic from time to time. Having recovered from his heart disease, he again took up lectures and during the whole winter did not reduce anything from his usual activities. In 1887, he went to Biarritz for sea bathing, but the very first swim caused him a severe attack of suffocation; treatment with cold showers gave a much more satisfactory result. In the fall, Botkin worked a lot in Paris, where French scientists (Charcot, Germain-Se and many others) gave him a standing ovation and held banquets in his honor. Returning to St. Petersburg, he worked hard for another two years, during which his illness progressed greatly. In the interval between these two years (autumn 1888), he was treated by bathing in the Princes' Islands, after which he studied the organization of medical institutions in Constantinople. In August 1889 he went to Arcachon, from there to Biarritz, Nice and finally to Menton. The attacks of the disease quickly intensified. At Menton he subjected himself to milk treatment, which resulted in significant improvement. Denying his underlying illness, he continued to undergo treatment, mainly for gallstones. Under the influence of the doctors around him, he wanted to listen to his heart using a stethoscope for self-listening, but after listening, he hastily removed the instrument, saying: “Yes, the noise is quite sharp!” - and did not repeat this study again. Anticipating the possibility of death, he called his relatives from St. Petersburg. To treat hepatic colic, he invited the English surgeon Lawson Tait, who became famous for the surgical removal of gallstones. The surgeon recognized the gallstone strangulation, but refused to operate due to weakened cardiac activity. After this, Botkin consulted with a German therapist, Prof. Kussmaul, but the disease was uncontrollably moving toward a fatal outcome, and soon death, in the words of A. N. Belogolov, “carried away its irreconcilable enemy from the earth.”
Printed works of S.P. Botkin: 1) Formation of stagnation in the blood vessels of the frog mesentery from the action of medium salts (“Military Medical Journal,” 1858, part 73). 2) Quantitative determination of protein and sugar in urine using the Pfentske-Soleil polarization apparatus (Moscow Med. Gaz., 1858 No. 13). 3) Quantitative determination of milk sugar in milk using the Pfentske-Soleil apparatus (Moscow Med. Gaz., 1858, No. 19). 4) About the absorption of fat in the intestines. Dissertation ("Military Medical Journal.", 1860, part 78, IV). 5) About the physiological effect of atropine sulfate ("Med. Bulletin", 1861, No. 29). 6) Ueber die Wirkung der Salze auf die circulirenden rothen Blutcörperchen (“Virch. Arch.”, Bd. 15 [V], 1858, Heft I and II). 7) Zur Frage von dem Stoffwechsel der Fette im thierischen Organismus (“Virch. Arch.”, Bd. 15 [V], 1858, N. III and IV). 8) Untersuchungen über die Diffusion organischer Stoffe (3 articles) (“Virch. Arch.”, Bd. 20 (X), 1861, N. I and II). 9) Abstract about the successes of private pathology and therapy in 1861-62. ("Military Medical Journal.", 1863 and 1864). 10) A case of portal vein thrombosis ("Med. Bulletin", 1863, No. 37 and 38). 11) Preliminary report on the epidemic of recurrent fever in St. Petersburg (Med. Bulletin, 1864, No. 46). 12) Return to etiology. fever in St. Petersburg ("Med. Bulletin", 1865, No. 1). 13) Ans St.-Petersburg ("Wien. Wochenblatt", No. 22, 1865). 14) Course of clinic of internal diseases. Vol. I - 1867, II - 1868, issue. III - 1875 15) Preliminary report on the current cholera epidemic ("Epidem. Leaflet", 1871, No. 3, appendix). 16) Archive of the Clinic of Internal Medicine, 13 volumes, 1869-1889 17) “Weekly Clinical Newspaper”, since 1881 18) Auscultatory phenomena with narrowing of the left venous opening, etc. ("St.-Petersb. med. Wochenschrift", 1880, No. 9). 19) Clinical lectures (3 editions). 20) General principles of clinical medicine (St. Petersburg, 1887). 21) From the first clinical lecture ("Med. Bulletin", 1862, No. 41). 22) Speech on the occasion of election to the Chairman of the General. Russian Doctors (Proceedings of the Society, 1878). 23) News of the plague in the Astrakhan province. (ibid., 1878). 24) Obituary of N. M. Yakubovich (ibid., 1878). 25) Speech on the occasion of Pirogov’s 50th anniversary (ibid., 1880). 26) Speech regarding the article in Arch. Pflueger priv.-assoc. Tupoumov (ibid., 1881). 27) Speech on the death of N. Iv. Pirogov (ibid., 1881). 28) Regarding Iv’s illness. S. Turgenev (ibid.). 29) Speech on the occasion of the anniversary of R. Virchow (“Ezhen. Wedge. Gaz.", 1881, No. 31). 30) Obituary of N. Al. Bubnov ("New Time", 1885, No. 3168). 31) Obituary of Yak. Al. Chistovich ("Ezhen. Klin. Gaz. ", 1885, No. 31). 32) Letter on the death of Prof. A.P. Borodin (ibid., 1887, No. 8). 33) Speech about French clinics (Proceedings of General Russian Doctors, 1887 34) Speech on a visit to Constantinople (ibid., 1888). 35) Letters from Bulgaria in 1877 (St. Petersburg, 1893).
V. N. Sirotinin, “S. P. Botkin,” biography in the course of the clinic of internal diseases, ed. 1899, St. Petersburg. - N. A. Belogolovy, "S. P. Botkin", St. Petersburg, 1892 - His own, "Memoirs", Moscow, 1898 - A. I. Kutsenko, "Historical sketch of the department of academic therapist. clinic of the Imperial Military Medical Academy", 1810-1898, diss., St. Petersburg, 1898 - "Letters from Bulgaria by S. P. Botkin.", St. Petersburg, 1893 - V. Verekundov, " Historical sketch of the department of diagnostics and general therapy", diss., St. Petersburg, 1898 - Proceedings of the conference Imp. Military Med. Academy for various years. - Handwritten files of the Academy. - Zmeev, “The Past of Medical Russia”, 1890, article by M. G. Sokolov. - Various works by S. P. Botkin.
N. Kulbin.
(Polovtsov)
Botkin, Sergey Petrovich
Brother of Vasily and Mikhail Petrovich B., famous clinician and public figure; born in 1832 in Moscow. His father and grandfather are famous tea traders. He received his primary education at the Ennes boarding school. Thanks to the influence of people belonging to the famous Stankevich circle, S.P. decided to enter Moscow University, but there was an obstacle - admission to all faculties in the late 40s. was extremely limited; unlimited admission turned out to be at one medical faculty and S.P., against his will, had to enter there in 1850. In 1855, at the very height of the Sevastopol campaign, S.P. completed the course and was immediately sent at the expense of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna to the theater of military operations, where he worked in the Bakhchisarai infirmary of the Grand Duchess, under the leadership of N.I. Pirogov. At the end of the war, having earned a very flattering review from Pirogov, S.P. went abroad for improvement. He worked abroad in all the best clinics and laboratories: in Paris - with Claude Bernard, in Berlin in the clinics of the famous prof. Traube, at the Virchow Pathological-Anatomical Institute and in the Hoppe-Seyler laboratory. Upon returning, B. was invited by the President of the Medical-Surgical Academy, Dubovitsky, as an adjunct to Prof. Shipulinsky. The following year, S.P. replaced Prof. Shipulinsky , having been appointed ordinary professor at the Therapeutic Clinic of Baronet Villiers. As a scientist, S. P. acquired for himself an honorable and outstanding name in literature, not only Russian, but also foreign. S. P. had the rare happiness of performing in the field of public activity in one of the best moments in the historical life of Russia, after the Crimean campaign, when all spheres of public life were engulfed in feverish activity, when new trends brought in the desire to reorganize the entire social and state life. The same trend, the same renewal then affected the Medical-Surgical Academy. S. P. ... was the first to create the Clinic on European principles. He introduced into it the latest research methods, the so-called clinical analysis of patients. In addition to the clinic, S.P. considered post-mortem confirmation of diagnoses very important for the success of teaching; for this purpose, not a single case was carried out without an autopsy and listeners had the opportunity to verify how pathological and anatomical changes corresponded to intravital recognition. At the same time, a lot of young people always worked in the Clinic’s laboratory under the leadership of S.P. on various issues of scientific and practical medicine. S.P. created a whole school of students, more than 20 of whom occupied and still occupy departments of private pathology and therapy at various universities in Russia. Many of them became famous, such as the late prof. Koshlakov, prof. V. A. Manassein, Polotebnov, Stolnikov and many others.
In the early 60s, S.P. was appointed an advisory member of the medical council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the military medical scientific committee, and from 1873 an honorary life physician. At the same time he was elected chairman of the society of Russian doctors in St. Petersburg. S.P.’s work in public institutions, as a member of the city duma, was extremely fruitful. Since the transfer of hospitals to the city, S.P. constantly worked in the newly established sanitary and hospital commissions. On his initiative and instructions, the city energetically set about improving the maintenance of hospitals and began building new ones - the community of St. George and the Alexander Barracks Hospital. In addition, he also drew attention to the lack of medical care among the poor class of the capital's population; the city duma, at his suggestion, established the Institute of Duma Doctors, which continues to function successfully to this day; on his own initiative, they began to develop data on the city’s almshouses. This study was undertaken partly for the practical purpose of determining the number of people who make up the population of almshouses in need of medical care, partly for the scientific purpose of collecting material for studying the insufficiently developed issue of old age. This study, made by Dr. A. A. Kadyan, was published after the death of S. P. Botkin (“The population of St. Petersburg city almshouses” by A. A. Kadyan).
In 1886, S.P. was appointed chairman of the commission on the issue of improving Russia. This commission collected precious material on the question of the sanitary condition of our vast fatherland; but, unfortunately, the work of the commission, due to the death of the chairman, was temporarily suspended. S.P. was very sympathetic to the issue of women’s medical courses; although he did not personally teach at them, he took to heart the fate of the courses that ended prematurely and energetically worked to establish them again at one of the city hospitals. In favor of the Women's Medical Courses, S.P. left the capital of the late Kondratiev, who gave S.P. 20 thousand rubles for some charitable purpose. S.P. Botkin died on December 12, 1889 in Menton from liver disease, complicated by heart disease. All classes and institutions, among which the famous clinician worked, tried to perpetuate the memory of the deceased. Thus, the city duma named the Alexander Barracks Hospital after Botkin, exhibited B.’s portrait in all city hospitals and almshouses, and established several elementary schools named after him. The Society of Russian Doctors opened a subscription for the establishment of a “Botkin charity home for poor doctors, their widows and orphans.” In addition, a capital named after Botkin was established for prizes for the best essays on therapy. The "Weekly Clinical Newspaper", published by the famous clinician, was turned into the "Botkin Hospital Newspaper". In addition, the Society of Russian Doctors formed a fund to issue a prize in memory of Botkin’s 25th anniversary, and many former patients raised capital for a scholarship named after S.P. in one of the women’s educational institutions. S. P. Botkin was a member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, many foreign scientific societies, a corresponding member of the Society of Internal Medicine in Berlin and an honorary member of almost all universities and scientific societies in Russia.
Botkin’s printed works: “Congestion formed in the blood vessels of the frog mesentery due to the action of medium salts” (“Military Medical Journal.” 1853); “Quantitative determination of protein and sugar in urine using a polarization apparatus” (Moscow Medical Gaz., 1858, No. 13); the same “Determination of milk sugar” (“Moscow medical gas.”, 1882, No. 19); “On the absorption of fat in the intestines” (“Military Medical Journal,” 1860); "On the physiological effect of atropine sulphate" ("Med. Vestn." 1861, No. 29); "Ueber die Wirkung der Salze auf dio circulirenden rothen Blutkörperchen" ("Virchow Archive", XV, 173, 1858); "Zur Frage von dem Stofwechsel der Fette in thierischen Organismen" ("Virchow Archive", XV, 380); "Untersuchungen über die Diffusion organischer Stoffe: 1) Diffusionsverhältnisse der rothen Blutkörperchen ausserhalb des Organismus" ("Virchow Archive", XX, 26); 2) "Ueber die Eigenthümlichkeiten des Gallenpigment hinsichtlich der Diffusion" ("Virchow Archive", XX, 37) and 3) "Zur Frage des endosmotischen Verhalten des Eiweis" (ibid., XX, no. 39); "A case of portal vein thrombosis" ("Medical Journal", 1863, 37 and 38); “Preliminary report on the epidemic of recurrent fever in St. Petersburg” (Med. Vest., 1864, No. 46); "On the etiology of recurrent fever in St. Petersburg ("Med. V.", 1865, No. 1); "Course of the clinic of internal diseases" (issue 1-1867; issue 2 - 1868 and issue 3- th - 1875); "Preliminary report on the cholera epidemic" (appendix to No. 3 "Epidemiological leaflet" for 1871); "Archive of the Clinic of Internal Diseases" (7 volumes, from 1869 to 1881); "Clinical Lectures", 3 issues; since 1881, the "Weekly Clinical Newspaper" has been published under his editorship.
(Brockhaus)
Botkin, Sergey Petrovich
Famous Russian doctor and professor V.-Med. academy (1832-89). In addition to clinical and practical activities, B. worked at the theater twice. actions: 1st time in Sevastopol in 1855, immediately after the end of Moscow. university, in Pirogov’s detachment; 2nd time - in 1877 as a medical assistant. imp. Alexandra II. In his memories of Sevast. activities and letters about Bulgaria, B. is portrayed as an ardent patriot who widely understood the needs of military health matters and sincerely mourned his deplorable state. ( WITH.P.Botkin, Letters from Bulgaria [to his wife] 1877, St. Petersburg, 1893; N.A White-headed, S. P. Botkin, St. Petersburg, 1892, AND.Kulbin, Botkin).
(Military enc.)
Botkin, Sergey Petrovich
(1832-1889) - an outstanding clinician in the field of internal diseases. Genus. in Moscow. In 1850 he entered the medical faculty of Moscow University. The greatest influence on B. at the university was made by Professor F. Inozemtsev, who attracted young people with his critical attitude towards medical theories, which were then considered unshakable. After graduating from university (in 1855), B. spent a short time in the war, working in Simferopol. Soon after, B. went abroad, where until 1860 he worked under the guidance of the largest representatives of medical thought of that time - Virchow, Ludwig, Claude Bernard, Hoppe Seiler, Traube and others. In 1860 B. was invited by the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy (later the Military -Medical Academy) for the position of adjunct of a therapeutic clinic; After defending his doctoral dissertation “On the absorption of fats in the intestines,” he moved to the position of professor at the same clinic in 1862. Here he worked until the end of his life. From the very beginning of his activities, B. passionately devoted himself to rebuilding the clinic according to the Western European type: he set up the first clinical laboratory in Russia, also opened for the first time a clinical outpatient reception of patients and created a center for scientific work from his clinic, gathering around him young doctors, many of whom later became first-class scientists (N. A. Vinogradov, V. A. Manassein, Yu. P. Chudnovsky, I. P. Pavlov, M. V. Yanovsky, N. Ya. Chistovich, M. M. Volkov, etc.). In his research and teaching activities, B. pursued the ideas he adopted from his Western European teachers, Ch. arr., from Virchow and Claude Bernard. Like them, he contrasted the natural scientific study of the patient with both abstract theories not based on experiment and the crude empiricism of his predecessors and many contemporaries. - Throughout his life, B. looked at practical medicine as a natural science: “The techniques used in the practice of research, observation and treatment of the patient should be the techniques of a natural scientist, basing his conclusion on the largest possible number of strictly and scientifically observed facts” ( 1862, inaugural lecture). And at the end of his life (1886) he again says: “Knowledge of physics, chemistry, natural sciences, with the broadest possible general education, constitutes the best preparatory school in the study of scientific practical medicine.” Therefore, for B. “the ability to apply natural science to individual cases constitutes the actual art of healing.” B.'s main merit is that for the first time in Russian history. medicine clearly defined the natural scientific foundations of clinical medicine. It was in this direction that the scientific activity of B. and his school developed. B. was engaged in little social activity, and only towards the end of his life did he pay some tribute to it. Being a member of the St. Petersburg City Duma in 1881-89, he, as a trustee of city hospitals, took part in work on their organization and improvement, using his clinical experience. In 1886, B. was appointed chairman of the government commission formed under the Medical Council to improve the sanitary condition and reduce mortality in Russia, but did not show any merit in this role. The range of issues in the clinic of internal diseases developed by B. is very extensive, but his theories in the field of cholelithiasis, catarrhal jaundice, typhoid fever, heart disease and circulatory disorders are especially significant and scientifically interesting. B.'s literary heritage is small in volume and consists, in addition to a few journal articles, in his classic “Course of the Clinic of Internal Diseases” (3 volumes, published 1867-75), “Clinical Lectures” and “General Foundations of Clinical Medicine” containing a statement of his main views ". B. was also the founder, editor and active collaborator of two who left a deep mark in Russian. medical literature periodicals: “Archive of the Clinic of Internal Diseases of Prof. Botkin” (since 1862) and “Weekly Clinical Newspaper” (since 1881), which published the best works of students of his school. B.'s social views were not distinguished by certainty, and, for example, in such a historical document as “Letters from Bulgaria” (1877), he does not go further than a pale and random criticism of individual manifestations of the then military reality.
Lit.: Belogolovy, N. A., S. P. Botkin. His life and medical activity, Moscow, 1892; his, Memoirs and Articles, Moscow, 1898; Sirotinin, V.N., S.P. Botkin (biographical sketch in the appendix to Part I of the “Course of the Clinic of Internal Diseases” by S.P. Botkin, 3rd edition, 1912).
Z. Soloviev.
Botkin, Sergey Petrovich
(Sept. 5, 1832 - Dec. 12, 1889) - Russian. general practitioner, materialist scientist, founder of physiology. referrals to clinical medicine, a major public figure. Born in Moscow into a merchant family. In his youth, B. became acquainted with the views of the philosophical circle of N.V. Stankevich - A.I. Herzen - V.G. Belinsky, which met in the Botkins’ house.
In 1855 B. graduated from medical school. fact Mosk. university; With the detachment of N.I. Pirogov, he took part in the Crimean campaign, acting as a resident of the Simferopol military hospital. In 1856-60 he was on a business trip abroad. In 1860 he defended his defense in St. Petersburg under the Medical-Surgical Institute. Academy doctoral dissertation “On the absorption of fat in the intestines” and in 1861 he was elected professor of the department of the academic therapeutic clinic.
B. was the first in Russia to create an experimental laboratory at his clinic in 1860-61, where he produced physics. and chemical analyzes and physiological studies. and pharmacological action of medicinal substances. B. also studied issues of physiology and pathology of the body, and artificially reproduced various pathologies in animals. processes (aortic aneurysm, nephritis, trophic skin disorders) in order to reveal their patterns. At the same time, he emphasized that the clinician can only to a certain extent transfer to humans the data obtained as a result of experience on animals. Research carried out in B.'s laboratory marked the beginning of experimental pharmacology, therapy and pathology in Russian. medicine. This laboratory was the embryo of the largest scientific research. honey. institutions - Institute of Experimental Medicine. B. outlined his views on medical issues in 3 editions of the “Course of the Clinic of Internal Diseases” (1867, 1868, 1875) and in 35 lectures recorded and published by his students (“Clinical Lectures of Prof. S. P. Botkin,” 3rd issue. , 1885-91). B. was a true innovator who revolutionized medicine. science, creator of natural history. and pathogenetic. method in diagnosis and treatment. He is the founder of scientific clinical science. medicine.
In his views, B. proceeded from the materialist. understanding the organism as a whole, located in inextricable unity and connection with its environment. This connection is primarily expressed in the form of metabolism between the organism and the environment,
in the form of adaptation of the organism to the environment. Thanks to exchange, the organism lives and maintains a certain independence in relation to the environment; thanks to the process of adaptation, the organism develops new properties in itself, which, when fixed, are inherited. Also materialistically, B. resolved the problem of the origin of diseases, inextricably linking them with the cause, which is always determined exclusively by the external environment, acting directly on the body or through its ancestors. The central core of clinical B.'s concept is the doctrine of the internal mechanisms of pathological development. processes in the body (the study of pathogenesis). Criticizing one-sided concepts in pathology, B. argued that one of them, the so-called. The humoral theory of medicine, with its teaching about the disorder of movement and the relationship of “juices” in the body, did not at all solve the problem of pathogenesis. The other, cellular theory, explained only two particular cases of pathogenesis: the spread of a pathogen by its direct transfer from one cell to another, per continuitatem, and the spread by its transfer by blood or lymph. B. gave a more profound theory of pathogenesis. B. opposed the one-sided teaching of R. Virchow about the organism as a “federation” of cellular states not related to the activity of the nervous system and the environment with the doctrine of the organism as a single whole, controlled by the nervous system and existing in close connection with the external environment. B. proceeded from the teachings of I.M. Sechenov that the anatomical and physiological. the substrate of all human acts. activity is a reflex mechanism. Developing this theory, he put forward the position that the pathologist. processes within the body develop along reflex nerve pathways. Since in the reflex act the main member is one or another node of the central nervous system, B. paid great attention to the study of various centers of the brain. He experimentally discovered the center of sweating, the center of reflex effects on the spleen (1875) and suggested the existence of centers for lymph circulation and hematopoiesis. He showed the importance of all these centers in the development of the corresponding diseases and thereby proved the correctness of the neurogenic theory of pathogenesis. Based on this theory of pathogenesis, he began to build a new theory of treatment (impact on the course of the disease through nerve centers), but did not have time to develop it to the end.
The neurogenic theory of B.'s pathogenesis puts in the doctor's field of vision not only anatomical, but also hl. arr. physiological or functional (through the nervous system) connections of the body and, therefore, obliges the doctor to consider the body as a whole, to diagnose not only the disease, but also “diagnose the patient.” treat not only diseases, but also the patient as a whole. This is the fundamental difference between the B. clinic and the clinics of the humoral and cellular schools. Developing all these ideas, B. created a new direction in medicine, characterized by I. P. Pavlov as the direction of nervism.
B. owns a large number of outstanding discoveries in the field of medicine. He was the first to express the idea of the specificity of protein structure in various organs; was the first (1883) to point out that catarrhal jaundice, which Virchow interpreted as “mechanical”, refers to infectious diseases; Currently, this disease is called “Botkin’s disease.” The infectious nature of the hemorrhagic was also established. jaundice described by A. Weil. This disease is called "Botkin-Weil jaundice." He brilliantly developed the diagnosis and clinical picture of a prolapsed and “wandering” kidney.
B. published the "Archive of the Clinic of Internal Diseases of Prof. S. P. Botkin" (1869-89) and the "Weekly Clinical Newspaper" (1881-89), renamed from 1890 to the "Botkin Hospital Newspaper". These publications published the scientific works of his students, among whom were I. P. Pavlov, A. G. Polotebnov, V. A. Manassein and many other outstanding Russian scientists. doctors and scientists.
B. closely connected his scientific activities with social activities. In 1861 he opened a free outpatient clinic at his clinic - the first in clinical history. treating patients. In 1878, being the chairman of the Russian Society. doctors in St. Petersburg, achieved the construction of a free hospital by the society, which was opened in 1880 (Alexandrovskaya Barracks Hospital, now the S.P. Botkin Hospital). B.'s initiative was taken up, and in other large cities of Russia they began to build medical funds. about free hospitals. With his active participation, in 1872, women's medical courses were opened in St. Petersburg - the first higher medical school in the world. school for women. B. proved himself to be an advanced doctor during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78. Being the life physician of Alexander II, he essentially took on the responsibilities of the army’s chief therapist: he achieved preventive care. quinization of troops, fought to improve the nutrition of soldiers, made rounds of hospitals, and gave consultations.
Since 1881 V., being a city of St. Petersburg. city duma and deputy prev Duma Commission of Public Health, laid the foundation for the organization of sanitary affairs in St. Petersburg, introduced the institute of sanitary doctors, laid the foundation for free home care, organized the institute of “Duma” doctors; created the Institute of School Sanitary Doctors, the “Council of Chief Doctors of St. Petersburg Hospitals.” B. was before. government commission to develop measures to improve the sanitary condition of the country and reduce mortality in Russia (1886). The tsarist government was suspicious of B.'s social activities. In 1862 he was subjected to a search and interrogation in connection with his visit to A. I. Herzen in London. In the 70s there was a question about removing B. (together with I.M. Sechenov) from the Medico-Surgical. academy.
Works: Course of clinic of internal diseases and clinical lectures, vol. 1-2, M., 1950.
Lit.: Pavlov I.P., Modern unification in experiment of the most important aspects of medicine using the example of digestion, in his book: Complete Works, vol. 2, book. 2, 2nd ed., M.-L., 1951; him, On the mutual relationship between physiology and medicine in matters of digestion, parts 1-2, ibid., vol. 2, book. 1, 2nd ed., M.-L., 1951; Belogolovy N.A., From my memories of Sergei Petrovich Botkin, in the book: Belogolovy N.A., Memoirs and other articles, M., 1897; him, SP. Botkin, his life and medical activity, St. Petersburg, 1892; Borodulin F.R., S.P. Botkin and the neurogenic theory of medicine, 2nd ed., M., 1953; Farber V.V., Sergei Petrovich Botkin (1832-1889), L., 1948 (there is a bibliography of B.’s works and literature about him).
Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Botkin, Sergei Petrovich, brother of the previous ones, famous clinician and public figure (1832 1889). His father and grandfather are famous tea traders. He received his primary education at the Ennes boarding school in Moscow. Under the influence of people belonging to... ... Biographical Dictionary
Russian physician, founder of the physiological direction in clinical medicine, public figure. Born into the family of a large tea merchant. His brother V.P. had a great influence on B.... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The life path of outstanding people is of particular interest to contemporaries. After all, by studying the biography of those individuals who have really achieved something in their lives, we can find the right path for organizing our own lives. Just such outstanding people include the most famous doctors who became discoverers or founders in some medical areas. And one of these unique specialists is Sergei Petrovich Botkin, whose biography will interest us today. Let's try to figure out what this doctor is famous for and what his contribution to medicine was.
When was Botkin born, what years of his life were he?
Botkin Sergei Petrovich was born in Moscow seventeenth September 1832 in a fairly wealthy merchant family. He was the youngest eleventh child, and from an early age he was distinguished by special abilities and increased curiosity. Many leading people of those times came to the Botkins’ house, including Belinsky and Herzen, Pikulin and Stankevich. It is believed that it was their ideas that especially contributed to the formation of the worldview of young Sergei.
Until the age of fifteen, the future doctor was raised at home, and then he entered a private boarding school for three years. In this educational institution he was one of the best students.
In 1850, young Botkin entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Medicine, and successfully graduated five years later. At the same time, Sergei Petrovich, the only one from the entire course, managed to pass the exams for the honorary degree of doctor, and not a doctor. After which Sergei Petrovich Botkin, a doctor, officially appeared.
After graduating from the university, the young specialist, together with the famous Pirogov medical detachment, participated in the Crimean campaign, Botkin served as a resident at the Simferopol military hospital. It was precisely this kind of activity that enabled the doctor to gain a lot of necessary practical skills.
By the end of 1855, Sergei Petrovich returned to Moscow and then went abroad in order to maximize his education. During his four-year business trip, Botkin managed to visit several European countries and also get married. After moving to St. Petersburg, the doctor defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Absorption of fat in the intestines.”
Soon Sergei Petrovich received the position of professor of the department at the academic therapeutic clinic.
It was from this moment that the full-fledged research activity of the doctor began. He created an amazing laboratory where he conducted a variety of tests, studied the effects of medications, and considered issues of the physiology of the human body and various pathologies. In addition, the scientist reproduced many pathological processes in animals, which helped to reveal the patterns of such diseases.
In 1861, Botkin opened the very first free outpatient clinic, and less than ten years later he was given the honorary position of life physician. Sergei Petrovich was involved in the treatment of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, he accompanied her on trips. Soon the doctor received the title of academician, and opened unique, first-of-its-kind courses in St. Petersburg that trained women doctors.
In 1875, Botkin's wife died, and he married a second time.
During the Russian-Turkish War, Sergei Petrovich accompanied Emperor Alexander II on the Balkan front for about seven months. During this time, the scientist insisted on preventive quinization of troops, sought to improve the nutrition of soldiers, and also carried out standard rounds and gave various consultations.
In 1878, Botkin was elected chairman of the Society of Russian Doctors, and he remained in this position until the end of his life. Sergei Petrovich managed to achieve a building that today bears his name. This initiative was taken up in other large cities, where medical facilities were also built.
In 1881, Botkin stood at the origins of the sanitary business in St. Petersburg, he led the institute of sanitary doctors, organized the beginning of free home care, and also created the institute of the so-called “Duma doctors.” The scientist was also involved in the development of measures to optimize the sanitary condition of Russia and to reduce the mortality rate in the country.
Botkin died at the end of 1889 in Menton, the cause of death was liver disease, which was complicated by heart disease. The Botkin family thinned out, but after the scientist there were twelve children left, two of whom also became doctors. The Botkins are a living example of a family that served their Fatherland. Among them were also writers, artists, philanthropists, collectors and business people... “In a word,” the old Botkin family has someone to be proud of.
This is a portrait of Sergei Petrovich Botkin by the artist I.N. Kramskoy
What contribution did Botkin make to medicine?
Botkin is recognized as the founder of scientific clinical medicine. His clinical and theoretical views on medical issues are presented in his three editions of the Course of the Clinic of Internal Medicine, as well as in more than thirty lectures.
Sergei Petrovich in his views treated the human body as a complex integral system, which is in a strong and inextricable unity, as well as in connection with the outside world. Botkin is the author of a new direction in medicine, which has been characterized as the direction of nervism.
It was Sergei Petrovich who made a number of important discoveries in the medical field. It was he who first thought about the specificity of protein structure in different organs. Botkin was also the first to point out that catarrhal jaundice is a representative of infectious diseases. For this and more, Botkin is immortalized in medicine by the disease of his estate - Botkin's disease. In addition, this scientist developed the diagnosis and clinic of prolapsed and wandering kidneys.
Sergei Petrovich Botkin was an outstanding doctor whose contribution to the development of clinical medicine is difficult to overestimate.
Professor of the Medical-Surgical Academy. Privy Councilor. Life physician.
Sergei Botkin was born on September 17, 1832 in Moscow. The boy grew up in a merchant family involved in the tea trade. In 1855 he graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University. At the same time he participated in the Crimean company, went with a sanitary detachment to Crimea, where he was lucky enough to work under the leadership of Nikolai Pirogov, a great surgeon.
Working in a military hospital gave Botkin the necessary skills. Then Sergei Petrovich worked in St. Petersburg, in the therapy clinic of the Medical-Surgical Academy. In 1861, the scientist received the title of professor and headed the academy’s clinic for almost three decades.
To study the problems of scientific medicine and physiology, in 1861 he created the first experimental laboratory in Russia at his clinic, where tests were carried out and the effect of drugs on the body was studied. Botkin was one of the first to prove the need for an individual approach to each patient, taking into account the characteristics of his age, anatomy, state of the nervous system, and living conditions.
He was one of the first to notice that the disease affects the entire body through the nervous system. His views were taken up by leading doctors, so Botkin is spoken of as the creator of the Russian scientific medical school.
Botkin combined scientific and social activities. With his participation, the first women's medical courses were opened in St. Petersburg in 1872.
Together with the physiologist Ivan Sechenov, he was the first in Russia to provide the opportunity for female doctors to work in the department he headed. He opened the first free outpatient clinic at his clinic. Thanks to his persistence, the first free hospitals for the poor appeared in St. Petersburg and other cities.
On his initiative, the free Alexander Hospital was built, which now bears his name. Thousands of patients could say that they were healed by the wonderful doctor Botkin. Dozens of scientists were proud to call themselves his students. In 1873, Botkin became a physician.
During the Russian-Turkish War, he sought to improve the living conditions of soldiers and the work of hospitals. Nikolai Nekrasov dedicated one of the chapters of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” to him.
The great Russian doctor and public figure Sergei Petrovich Botkin died on December 24, 1889 in the French city of Menton.
Memory of Sergei Botkin
There is a Botkin hospital in Moscow. There is also a Botkin hospital in St. Petersburg. In the city of Orel, a hospital is named after him.
In Tashkent, since 1872, the first city cemetery has been operating, located on Botkin Street, also known as simply the Botkin cemetery.
In 1898, in memory of the services of the outstanding doctor, Samarskaya Street in St. Petersburg was renamed Botkinskaya Street. A memorial plaque was installed on house No. 20 in 1957 (architect M.F. Egorov) with the text: “The outstanding Russian scientist in the field of medicine Sergei Petrovich Botkin worked here from 1861 to 1889.”
Name S.P. Botkin is worn on one of the streets in Mogilev and Krasnoyarsk.
On May 25, 1908, a monument was erected in the park in front of the clinic at the corner of Botkinskaya Street and Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Prospekt (sculptor V. A. Beklemishev).
In the 1920s, a bust by I. Ya. Ginzburg (1896) was installed on the territory of the Botkin Hospital.
In 1958, a memorial plaque was installed on the house at 77 Galernaya Street (architect L.V. Robachevskaya) with the text: “Here from 1878 to 1889 Sergei Petrovia Botkin lived and worked for the glory of Russian medicine.”
The name was given to the Petrograd Therapeutic Society.
Postage stamps dedicated to S.P. Botkin were issued in the USSR (1949) and Russia (2007).
Nekrasov N.A. dedicated part of his poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (“A Feast for the Whole World”) to S.P. Botkin.
One of the Aeroflot A320 aircraft is named after Botkin.
Family of Sergei Botkin
Father - Pyotr Kononovich Botkin (1781-1853), merchant of the first guild and owner of a large tea company,
Mother - Anna Ivanovna Postnikova (1805-1841). In two marriages, Pyotr Kononovich had 25 children; Sergei was the eleventh child from his second marriage.
Brothers: collector D. P. Botkin, writer V. P. Botkin, artist M. P. Botkin.
Sisters: M. P. Botkina - wife of the poet A. A. Fet.
First wife: Anastasia Aleksandrovna Krylova (1835-1875), daughter of a poor Moscow official.
Second wife: Ekaterina Alekseevna Obolenskaya (1850-1929), daughter of Prince Alexei Vasilyevich Obolensky and Zoya Sergeevna Sumarokova.
Children: Alexander Botkin (naval officer), Pyotr Botkin (c. 1865-1933, diplomat), Sergei Botkin, Evgeny Botkin (1865-1918, life physician, attending physician of the family of Emperor Nicholas II, who died with her), Victor Botkin .
- Doctors of the past
Botkin Sergey Petrovich
Sergei Botkin was born on September 17, 1832 in Moscow, into a merchant family involved in the tea trade. In 1855 he graduated from Moscow University, Faculty of Medicine. At the same time he participated in the Crimean company - he went with a sanitary detachment to Crimea, where he was lucky enough to work under the leadership of N.I. Pirogov, the great surgeon. Working in a military hospital gave Botkin the necessary skills. Then Sergei Petrovich worked in St. Petersburg, in the therapy clinic of the Medical-Surgical Academy. In 1861, the 29-year-old scientist received the title of professor and headed the academy’s clinic for almost three decades.
To study the problems of scientific medicine and physiology, in 1860-1861 he created the first experimental laboratory in Russia at his clinic, where tests were carried out and the effect of drugs on the body was studied. Botkin was one of the first to prove the need for an individual approach to each patient, taking into account the characteristics of his age, anatomy, state of the nervous system, and living conditions.
He was one of the first to notice that the disease affects the entire body through the nervous system. His views were taken up by leading doctors, so Botkin is spoken of as the creator of the Russian scientific medical school.
Botkin combined scientific and social activities. With his participation, the first women's medical courses were opened in St. Petersburg in 1872.
Together with physiologist I.M. Sechenov, he was the first in Russia to provide the opportunity for female doctors to work in the department he headed. In 1861, he opened the first free outpatient clinic at his clinic; Thanks to his persistence, the first free hospitals for the poor appeared in St. Petersburg and other cities.
On his initiative, the free Alexander Hospital was built, which now bears his name. Thousands of patients could say that they were healed by the wonderful doctor Botkin. Dozens of scientists were proud to call themselves his students. In 1873, Botkin became a physician.
During the Russian-Turkish War, he sought to improve the living conditions of soldiers and the work of hospitals. ON THE. Nekrasov dedicated one of the chapters of his poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” to him.
The great Russian doctor Sergei Petrovich Botkin died on December 24, 1889 in the French city of Menton.
S.P. Botkin was a participant in the Crimean War (1853–1856). He developed a first aid system, determined the stages of evacuation of the wounded from the battlefield, and formulated the main provisions for carrying out anti-epidemiological measures.
In his works on military field medicine, special attention was paid to the hygiene and nutrition of soldiers and the organization of their life. Sergei Petrovich Botkin was sure that only a true military doctor who perfectly knows the life of his charges and is aware of what diseases they most often suffer from.
Military field medicine concept
Botkin's disease
Sergei Petrovich predicted the mechanisms of development of this pathology. He was the first to suggest its viral nature, outlined the methods of infection, proved its danger to the liver and the body as a whole, and highlighted the importance of maintaining hygiene.
Sergei Petrovich Botkin was at the origins of the creation of an epidemiological scientific society, the goal of which was the prevention of infectious diseases. It united doctors and educators and published the Epidemic Leaflet. As part of the community's work, Botkin studied the epidemic of plague, cholera, typhus, smallpox, diphtheria and scarlet fever.
Epidemiological Scientific Society
Contributions to women's medical education
We owe to Sergei Petrovich Botkin:
- using a thermometer;
- taking tests;
- sanitary and epidemiological service;
- free medicine;
- the emergence of women doctors;
- Crimean resorts;
- the concept of “velvet season,” when society ladies in velvet dresses followed the Empress, who came to Crimea in the fall.
Main scientific works
- “On the absorption of fat in the intestines” (1860);
- “Course in the clinic of internal diseases.” Issue 1-3. (1867-1875);
- “On the mobility of the kidneys” (1884);
- "Based's Sickness and Weary Heart" (1885);
- “Clinical lectures by S.P. Botkin. Issue 1-3. (1887-1888).
Contribution to the development of medicine
- Founder of the largest therapeutic school(45 out of 106 students of S.P. Botkin headed clinical departments in various cities of Russia, 85 defended dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Among his students are I.P. Pavlov, A.G. Polotebnov, V.G. Lashkevich, N.Ya.Chistovich, V.P.Obraztsov, V.N.Sirotinin, V.A.Manassein, I.I.Molesson, N.P.Simanovsky, N.A.Vinogradov, etc.)
- In 1860-1861 organized the first clinical experimental laboratory, where the first studies in Russia on clinical pharmacology and experimental therapy were conducted.
- First in the history of Russian science carried out fruitful union of medicine and physiology. He widely introduced physical and chemical research methods into the clinic.
- Created a new direction in medicine, called nervism by I.P. Pavlov. His views were based on an understanding of the organism as a whole, inextricably linked with its environment and controlled by the nervous system. He considered the nervous system to be the main carrier of the unity of the body.
- First described the clinical picture of infectious hepatitis ("Botkin's disease" ), recognizing it as a common infectious disease. He contributed a lot to the study of rheumatism, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, lung diseases, typhus, typhoid and relapsing fever.
- In the clinic of S.P. Botkin, after careful scientific development, there was oxygen therapy was used for the first time for diseases of the lungs, bronchi and nervous systems s.
- Together with students established the participation of the spleen in blood deposition(1875), which was later confirmed by the experiments of the English physiologist J. Barcroft.
- Essentially added to the description of the Graves disease clinic(named after the German doctor Basedow, who described it in 1840). Author of the neurogenic theory of the pathogenesis of Graves' disease.
- Gave a comprehensive description of the clinic of a mobile kidney and a scientifically substantiated method for its recognition. Revealed the difference between nephritis and nephrosis.
- He was the first to describe lobar pneumonia in detail, its etiology and pathogenesis.
- One of the founders of military field therapy.
- He expressed the thesis about the existence of physiological mechanisms in the body that give it the ability to fight diseases.
- Together with students studied the effect of drugs in experiments and clinics(digitalis, lily of the valley, adonis, potassium salts, etc.).
- S.P. Botkin considered medicine as “the science of preventing diseases and treating the patient.”
- appeared active public figure. In 1878 he was elected chairman of the Society of Russian Doctors, remaining in this post until the last days of his life. He contributed to the founding of women's medical courses in 1872.
- Initiator of the organization of free medical care “for the poor classes”, the construction of the Alexander Barracks Hospital in St. Petersburg, which became exemplary in medical and scientific terms.
- In 1880 he began publishing “ Weekly clinical newspaper».
- In 1882, as chairman of the Subcommittee on School and Sanitary Supervision in City Schools successfully organized the fight against a severe epidemic of diphtheria and scarlet fever.
