Filomafitskii, Aleksei

Born Mar. 17 (29), 1807, in the village of Malakhovo, Romanov District, now Yaroslavl Oblast; died Jan. 22 (Feb. 3), 1849, in Moscow. Russian physiologist.

Filomafitskii graduated from the medical school of the University of Kharkov in 1828 and from the Dorpat Institute of Professors in 1833. From 1833 to 1835 he pursued advanced studies in physiology in Germany, in J. Müller’s laboratory. In 1835, Filomafitskii became a professor of physiology and general pathology at Moscow University’s medical school and in 1847, a professor of physiology and comparative anatomy there.

Filomafitskii was the author of the first Russian textbook of physiology written from a materialist standpoint; he was also one of the founders of experimental pathology. He advanced an original hypothesis on the cyclical nature of nervous activity, and was the first in Russia to study the formed elements of the blood with a microscope. Filomafitskii also made experiments involving both blood transfusion and the effects of ether. In 1847, together with N. I. Pirogov, he developed a method of intravenous anesthesia. He was an outspoken opponent of idealist concepts in medicine.