title: [Sigismund Laskowski and his anatomical preparations technique].
abstract: Fixation of the entire bodies or individual organs, and later as well tissues and cellular structures, was and still is often a challenge for anatomists and histologists. Technique that combines extensive knowledge of natural sciences, as well as technical skills, was by those best researchers as Frederik Ruysch, brought to perfection. Preparations, if done with care and talent, are really propelling progress in anatomical studies and determining the quality of education for medical students and young physicians. And as it is true for many of today's medical disciplines and natural sciences, the nineteenth century was in many ways a breaking point for preparatory techniques in the realm of anatomy and histology. Among those who have achieved success, earning notoriety during their lifetime and often going into the annals of European most distinguished scholars were some Polish names: Louis Maurice Hirschfeld, whose preparations of the nervous system earned him well-deserved, international fame, Louis Charles Teichmann, who was the very first so precisely describing the lymphatic system and a creator of unique injection mass, Henry Kadyi, known for his outstanding preparations, especially of vascular system. Henry Frederick Hoyer sen., who was one of the first to use formalin regularly for accurate microscopic preparations, is seen by many as the founder of the Polish histology. In this group of innovators and precursors of modern preparation techniques place should be reserved for Zygmunt (Sigismund) Laskowski, Polish patriot, fighting in January Uprising, later an immigrant, a professor at the university sequentially Paris and Geneva. Acclaimed author of anatomical tables and certainly creator of one of the groundbreaking techniques in anatomical preparations. Based after many years of research on the simple glycerine-phenol mixture achieved excellent results both in fixation of entire bodies and organs or tissues. Quality of those preparations was as high and sometimes even higher than later formalin using techniques, and was finally surpassed only by plastination.
authors.forename: Ryszard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Gryglewski
mesh_terms: D000715:Anatomy / Q000266:history*; D002102:Cadaver; D005602:France; D005990:Glycerol; D006653:Histology / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D019800:Phenol; D011044:Poland; D013557:Switzerland; D016707:Tissue Fixation / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D019800:Phenol; D005990:Glycerol