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==History==
===Origins
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The histories of both experimental and medical pathology can be traced to the earliest application of the [[scientific method]] to the field of [[medicine]], a development which occurred in the [[Middle East]] during the [[Islamic Golden Age]]<ref>Toby E. Huff (2003), ''The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West'', p. 54, 246-247, 216-218. [[Cambridge University Press]], ISBN 0521529948.</ref> and in [[Western Europe]] during the [[Italian Renaissance]].<ref name="Histpath">[http://www.usc.edu/hsc/dental/PTHL312abc/312a/01/Reader/reader_set.html] History of Pathology, at the USC School of Dentistry</ref> Most early pathologists were also practicing [[physician]]s or [[surgeon]]s. Like other medical fields, pathology has become more specialized with time, and most pathologists today do not practice in other areas of medicine.
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▲===Origins of pathology===
The concept of studying disease through the methodical dissection and examination of diseased bodies, organs, and tissues may seem obvious today, but there are few if any recorded examples of true [[autopsies]] performed prior to the [[2nd millennium|second millennium]]. Though the pathology of [[Infectious disease|contagion]] was understood by [[Islamic medicine|Muslim physicians]] since the time of [[Avicenna]] (980–1037) who described it in ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'' (c. 1020),<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/history/islam-science-technology-health/sub12.html Medicine And Health], "Rise and Spread of Islam 622-1500: Science, Technology, Health", ''World Eras'', [[Thomson Gale]].</ref> the first physician known to have made [[Autopsy|postmortem]] [[dissection]]s was the [[Arab]]ian physician [[Ibn Zuhr|Avenzoar]] (1091–1161) who proved that the skin disease [[scabies]] was caused by a [[parasite]], followed by [[Ibn al-Nafis]] (b. 1213) who used dissection to discover [[pulmonary circulation]] in 1242.<ref>[http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Islamic+medicine Islamic medicine], ''[[Hutchinson Encyclopedia]]''.</ref> In the 15th century, anatomic dissection was repeatedly used by the Italian physician [[Antonio Benivieni]] (1443-1502) to determine cause of death.<ref name="Histpath"/> Perhaps the most famous early gross pathologist was [[Giovanni Battista Morgagni|Giovanni Morgagni]] (1682-1771). His [[magnum opus]], ''De Sedibus et Causis Morborum per Anatomem Indagatis'', published in 1761, describes the findings of over 600 partial and complete autopsies, organised anatomically and methodically correlated with the symptoms exhibited by the patients prior to their demise. Although the study of normal anatomy was already well advanced at this date, ''De Sedibus'' was one of the first treatises specifically devoted to the correlation of diseased anatomy with clinical illness.<ref>[http://pacs.unica.it/biblio/lesson6.htm] A History of Medicine from the Biblioteca Centrale dell'Area Biomedica</ref><ref>[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1698114] Founders of Modern Medicine: Giovanni Battista Morgagni. Medical Library and Historical Journal. 1903 October; 1(4): 270–277.</ref> By the late 1800s, an exhaustive body of literature had been produced on the gross anatomical findings characteristic of known diseases. The extent of gross pathology research in this period can be epitomized by the work of the Viennese pathologist (originally from Hradec Kralove in the Czech Rep.) [[Carl Rokitansky]] (1804-1878), who is said to have performed 20,000 autopsies, and supervised an additional 60,000, in his lifetime.<ref name="Histpath"/><ref>[http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/981.html] Karl von Rokitansky at Whonamedit.com</ref>
===Origins of microscopic pathology===
[[Rudolf Virchow]] (1821-1902) is generally recognized to be the father of microscopic pathology. While the compound [[microscope]] had been invented approximately 150 years prior, Virchow was one of the first prominent physicians to emphasize the study of manifestations of disease which were visible only at the cellular level.<ref name="Histpath"/><ref>[http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/912.html] Rudolf Virchow at Whonamedit.com </ref> A student of Virchow's, [[Julius Cohnheim]] (1839-1884) combined [[histology]] techniques with experimental manipulations to study [[inflammation]], making him one of the earliest [[experimental pathology|experimental pathologists]].<ref name="Histpath"/> Cohnheim also pioneered the use of the [[frozen section procedure]]; a version of this technique is widely employed by modern pathologists to render diagnoses and provide other clinical information intraoperatively.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=660&letter=C&search=Julius%20Cohnheim] Jewish Encyclopedia entry on Julius Cohnheim</ref>
===Modern experimental pathology===
As new research techniques, such as [[electron microscopy]], [[immunohistochemistry]], and [[molecular biology]] have expanded the means by which biomedical scientists can study disease, the definition and boundaries of investigative pathology have become less distinct. In the broadest sense, nearly all research which links manifestations of disease to identifiable processes in cells, tissues, or organs can be considered [[experimental pathology]].<ref>[http://www.asip.org/about/about.htm] Mission of the American Society for Investigative Pathology</ref>
==Pathology as a science== <!--Pathology as a science redirects here-->
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