Acta Morphologica 10. Supplementum (1962)
Proceedings of the annual meeting of Hungarian Pathologists and Anatomist. Budapest, 1960. Anatomy and Pathology of the Lymph Nodes
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF HUNGARIAN PATHOLOGISTS AND ANATOMISTS Budapest, 1960 PLENAHY SESSION Anatomy and Pathology of the Lymph Nodes K. Farkas: Presidential Address Ladies and Gentlemen, The program of our Congress reflects the sphere of interest of the Hungarian pathologists and their methods of approach to the current problems. It is worth while to consider the problem of methodology in detail. In our period of rapid developement, not only industrial technology but also the methodology of laboratory instruments has undergone radical changes. The trends of research changing in connection with methodology greatly determine the place of pathology in our knowledge of the diseases. Pathology joined the research of disease only after the technique of necropsy had developed to such an extent as to make the detailed knowledge of organs and organ groups possible and mainly after the microscope and the cells had been discovered. The most farreaching inventions in the history of medicine — the microscope and the cell — have determined the place of pathology for a long time. The singular fruitfulness of this methodology had chained the researcher to the microscope for a long time and the finer the technique became the more was his activity confined to recognizing the changes in cells and tissues instead of establishing the real natura of the disease. The pathologist had to realize at the price of repeated disappointments that, no matter how much the method has advanced, his view as to the origin of diseases could not get beyond the confines of his microscopic lens. At that time, though pathological departments were established in order to collaborate with the therapeutists, this could rarely be put into practice. In our days a fruitful connection has developed between clinical and theoretical medicine, promising to explain the origin of diseases. And all these at a time when the instrumental techniques have reached a height hardly conceivable some decades ago, a level when the question must again arise whether methodology with all its modern achievements will not be dromed to serve once more its own end? The temptation doubtlessly exists. Nothing seems to be easier than the reappraisal of all the results achieved by the classical procedures. The danger of such simplification can only be averted by the right attitude of keeping the 1 Acta Morphologies Suppl X.