Verigo, Bronislav

Verigo, Bronislav Fortunatovich

 

Born 1860, in Vitebsk Province; died June 13, 1925, in Perm’. Russian physiologist. Student of I. M. Sechenov and I. P. Pavlov.

Verigo graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1881 and the Military Medical Academy in 1886. In 1888 he defended his doctoral dissertation. He worked in the laboratories of E. Pfliger and I. I. Mechnikov. From 1897 to 1914 he was a professor at the Novorossiiskii University in Odessa, and from 1917, at the University of Perm’. Verigo’s research was devoted mainly to electrophysiology; he discovered and described the phenomenon of cathode depression—the prolonged lowering of excitability that develops secondarily after its increase in the area of cathode application. He established that a galvanic current, depending on its strength and direction, blocks either the motor or sensory nerve fibers. In studying the gas exchange in the lungs and tissues, he established (1892) the influence of O2 on the ability of the blood to bind CO2 (Verigo effect).

WORKS

Osnovy fiziologii cheloveka i vysshikh zhivotnykh. vols. 1-2. St. Petersburg, 1905-10.

REFERENCE

“Pamiati Bronislava Fortunatovicha Verigo, 1860-1925.” Russkii fiziologicheskii zhurnal, 1926, vol. 9. no. 1. [Obituary.]