The life and work of Carl Weigert (1845-1904) in Leipzig 1878-1885

Coming from Breslau, together with J. Cohnheim (1839-1884), Carl Weigert arrived at the University of Leipzig in 1878. Here, in 1879, he was appointed extraordinary professor at the Department of Pathology. Apart from his growing commitment to autopsy and teaching, due to progressive illness of Cohnheim and the resulting involvement in management of the Department. Weigert studied topical issues of pathology, such as coagulation necrosis and pathogenesis of tuberculosis. His studies into histological staining techniques (principle of elective staining, mordant staining, staining of myelin sheaths) as well as into microtome techniques proved essential to progress in pathology and bacteriology. Weigert left the Leipzig Department of Pathology at the end of March 1885, after the Medical Faculty had failed to appoint him as the successor to Cohnheim. On the 1st of April, 1885, Weigert accepted the position of Director of Senckenberg's Pathological Institute at Frankfurt/Main.