Khrzhonshchevskii, Nikanor Adamovich

Born July 26 (Aug. 7), 1836, in Perm’; died Aug. 19 (Sept. 1), 1906, in Kiev. Russian pathologist and histologist.

Khrzhonshchevskii graduated from the University of Kazam in 1859. In 1867–68 he was a professor in the subdepartment of histology, embryology, and comparative anatomy at the University of Kharkov. In 1868 he became Russia’s first professor of an independent subdepartment of general pathology, at the medical school of the University of Kiev.

Khrzhonshchevskii was one of the founders of the functional pathological-histological trend in medicine. He developed and, in 1864, put to use an experimental method of dyeing tissue in vivo (physiological injection of dyes), which was the basis of experimental histophysiology. He was the author of works on the histology of the liver, kidneys, and adrenal glands, and also conducted research on the ability of liver cells to produce bile. In addition, he was a pioneer of health education in Russia.

Khrzhonshchevskii was president of the Society of Kiev Physicians from 1869 to 1872 and from 1886 to 1892 and of the Kiev Society of Naturalists from 1870 to 1872. He organized the first medical lectures open to Russia’s general public (1886); the People’s Auditorium, a building for the lectures, was built in Kiev in 1895 on his initiative.