200th birthday of Rudolf Virchow: When Bismarck challenged Rudolf Virchow to a duel

Twelve radial systems kept Berlin clean.

Pump station V went into operation in 1881, and in 1905 the imposing brick building on the banks of the Spree was expanded again.

In the meantime it serves as a cultural center, in which, among other things, a dance company is at home and a hygiene concept has recently been introduced to 3G.

Where visitors today wear medical masks because deadly corona viruses plague the whole world, machines pumped faeces out of the city until the end of the 1990s: from Friedrichshain the sewage flowed to Falkenberg, to a sewage field, of which there were some especially in the north and south of Berlin .

Sonja Kastilan

Responsible for the “Science” section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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More than 10,000 hectares were not only fertilized in this way, but potentially contaminated with heavy metals over the decades. Before the cultivation of fruit or vegetables was stopped there and thought about the best way to clean up contaminated sites, there was a win-win situation, which Rudolf Virchow considered in December 1872 in his general report on “Cleaning and Drainage of Berlin”. It collects plans and work of an "urban mixed deputation" on the topic, so the costs for the construction and operation of the planned radial systems including pumping stations, masonry canals and overlying pipes made of fired, glazed clay pipes were countered by the savings resulting from the reduced street cleaning as well as discharge, because cesspools or cesspools for human excrement were omitted,if not the manure. In addition to assessing how much sewage area would be required per 100,000 inhabitants, experiments with rye grass and its suitability as green fodder for dairy cows are explained, even the dry matter is specified, which is an adult urine and faeces per year, a total of 95 pounds. The physician precedes all of these calculations with detailed analyzes of soil quality, groundwater and well water, as well as statistics on infectious diseases and mortality rates in the districts.The physician precedes all of these calculations with detailed analyzes of soil quality, groundwater and well water, as well as statistics on infectious diseases and mortality rates in the districts.The physician precedes all of these calculations with detailed analyzes of soil quality, groundwater and well water, as well as statistics on infectious diseases and mortality rates in the districts.

Bacteriology was only just beginning at that time, most of the pathogens are not even known, but Virchow recognizes important connections: “The number of houses in which cholera diseases occurred was much larger in the category of bad and very bad drinking water as that of the mediocre and the good, ”he interprets the data on the cholera epidemic in 1866, which killed thousands, prompting the authorities to improve sanitation in the city soon by means of sewers. Existing plans proved to be inadequate, the deputation added necessary investigations and then worked on this huge project for almost four years. But the minutes of a meeting on May 14, 1873,The original of which is kept in the archive of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, along with many other documents from Virchow's estate, can therefore be regarded as a victory for the scientific meticulousness of the social hygienist, who previously suggested the meat inspection and the construction of new hospitals, and his esteemed colleagues : The funds for the first radial system are approved, No. III in Kreuzberg, the formation of the municipal building commission for the sewer system was decided and the building officer James Hobrecht, who is now famous around the world, was entrusted with the execution as chief engineer. It would take until 1909 to implement his plans as a whole, by then the Berlin city planner had been dead for seven years.can therefore be regarded as a victory for the scientific meticulousness of the social hygienist, who previously suggested the meat inspection and the construction of new hospitals, and his esteemed colleagues: The funds for the first radial system are approved, No. III in Kreuzberg, the formation of the municipal building commission for the sewer system was decided and the building officer James Hobrecht, who is now famous around the world, was entrusted with the execution as chief engineer. It would take until 1909 to implement his plans as a whole, by then the Berlin city planner had been dead for seven years.can therefore be regarded as a victory for the scientific meticulousness of the social hygienist, who previously suggested the meat inspection and the construction of new hospitals, and his esteemed colleagues: The funds for the first radial system are approved, No. III in Kreuzberg, the formation of the municipal building commission for the sewer system was decided and the building officer James Hobrecht, who is now famous around the world, was entrusted with the execution as chief engineer. It would take until 1909 to implement his plans as a whole, by then the Berlin city planner had been dead for seven years.the formation of the municipal building commission for the sewer system was decided and the building councilor James Hobrecht, who is now famous around the world, was entrusted with the execution as chief engineer. It would take until 1909 to implement his plans as a whole, by then the Berlin city planner had been dead for seven years.the formation of the municipal building commission for the sewer system was decided and the building councilor James Hobrecht, who is now famous around the world, was entrusted with the execution as chief engineer. It would take until 1909 to implement his plans as a whole, by then the Berlin city planner had been dead for seven years.