Background

Friedrich Bidder was born on November 9, 1810, in Treppenhof (present-day Trapene Manor), Livonia, Russian Empire (today Latvia), the son of Ernst Christian Bidder, an agriculturalist, and Amalie Jacobine von Strohkirch.

Education

After studying for three years in a private school in Riga and then graduating from a gymnasium in Mitau (now Jelgava), Friedrich Bidder studied for 6 years at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Dorpat (now the University of Tartu).

After receiving his medical degree in 1834, he studied anatomy at the University of Berlin (now Humboldt University of Berlin) with J. Müller, C. Ehrenberg, J. Henle, and F. Schlemm.

Career

Bidder became a full professor of anatomy in 1842, and accepted the new chair of physiology and pathology in 1843. He served as dean of the medical faculty from 1843 to 1845 and as rector of the university in 1858. Bidder found an outlet for his humanitarian interests in the social problems of the city. He helped to found a public baby nursery and was president of Dorpat’s Hiilfsverein, a charitable institution.

Bidder was not a gifted teacher in the conventional sense, but he was highly successful at providing fruitful research topics for his students. Over seventy-five dissertations were completed under his direction. Bidder’s superior grasp of scientific literature and his command of anatomy, physiology, histology, and embryology enabled him to single out important questions for study. With few exceptions, Bidder selected his research topics from published differences of opinion. This habit reveals Bidder’s confidence and broad knowledge of biology; it also explains why Bidder’s name is not associated with any major innovations. His best-known works were published in cooperation with other scientists. Bidder’s partnerships brought to light his most innovative and creative abilities. When Bidder did reach out to creative projects, his efforts frequently were not appreciated. His contributions to intermediary metabolism and nerve physiology were too advanced for the majority of his contemporaries.

In 1852, Bidder and Carl Schmidt, a student of Justus von Liebig, published their classic Verdauungssafte und der Stoffwechsel. The treatise was a brilliant extension of the concepts suggested by Liebig’s Animal Chemistry (1842). Verdauungssafte was the first majorpublication on intermediary metabolism (intermediaren Kreislauf). Bidder examined the effects of digestive juices (salivary', pancreatic, biliary, intestinal, and gastric) on foodstuffs. He elucidated the chemical changes induced by enzymes and the effects of nervous control on the secretion of digestive juices. He was able to show that bile was not an excretion but a secretion serving a physiological function.

Bidder opened the bile duct and inserted a cannula to draw off the biliary liquids. By controlling the diet of cats fitted with this fistula, he found that digestive disturbances occurred when the nutrients contained large amounts of fat. The chemical composition of bile was not similar to fat but to carbohydrate or protein. Yet, further fistula experiments indicated that bile did have some unknown complex function in fat metabolism. When bile flowed into the gut, animals could digest more fat than when bile was removed through the fistula. Oil mixed with bile rose higher hi capillary tubes than did untreated samples of oil. In vitro mixtures of fat, water, and bile rendered the fat water-soluble and neutral to litmus paper. Fat globules in the lymphatics, however, were acidic. Bidder hypothesized that bile aids in the absorption of fats in the stomach and is then reabsorbed in the gut. By comparing the concentrations of bile salts in the feces and urine with the concentration of bile in the gut, Bidder concluded that such a hypothesis was correct.

Although Bidder worked on a wide spectrum of problems, he maintained a persistent interest in the physiology and anatomy of the nervous system. He provided an improved description of the rods and cones of the retina (1839), repeated many of Flourens’s experiments on the regeneration of sectioned nerves, investigated olfaction, and was successful in joining the severed ends of the lingual and hypoglossal nerves (although the crossed fibers were not functional). He cataloged all of the inhibitory nerves known to him and traced their fibers to the autonomic ganglia (1871). He discovered the auriculoventricular and interauricular ganglion cells in the hearts of frogs ("Bidder’s ganglia") and demonstrated that the ganglia contained fibers of the vagus nerve.

His best-known work on the nervous system was the outcome of collaboration. Bidder and Alfred W. Volkmann made an extensive histological study of the autonomic nervous system and the spinal cord. They demonstrated that although certain fibers of the intercostal nerve were unmyelinated, they were genuine nerve fibers. They established the general rule that postganglionic fibers are not covered by a myelin sheath. Detailed numerical analysis revealed that the peripheral nerves contained more fibers than could be accounted for by the spinal cord and the sympathetic chain alone. This discovery provided anatomical evidence for the theory of double innervation of the organs from (1) the sympathetic chain and (2) the ganglionic system.

In 1857 Bidder and Carl Kupffer made a histological study of the embryonic and adult spinal cord in order to settle the dispute whether or not the spinal nerve fibers are continuous with the gray matter of the brain. Employing a new chromic-acid stain developed by Schroeder van der Kolk. the authors were able to show the continuity of cord fibers with cell bodies located in the gray matter of the brain. Bidder was an advocate of the neuron theory.

Bidder’s name is also associated with an organ found only in certain frogs (Bufonides). It is a circular mass of tissue located slightly ventral to, and between, the kidneys and testes. Bidder suspected it was testicular tissue; following an interesting array of speculative theories, it was shown in the twentieth century to be endocrine tissue.

A great deal of Bidder’s work was excellent but his virtuosity and diverse interests prevented its recognition. His tendency to resolve minor conflicts rather than carry out sustained research on any one topic reduced his impact. His interest in controversies, however, increases the historical value of his work. Bidder’s discussions of opposing views provide insights into the research problems of the nineteenth century.

Achievements

• Georg Friedrich Karl Heinrich von Bidder was a physiologist, and anatomist, who is primarily remembered for his studies of nutrition and gastric physiology. From 1847 to 1852 he performed physiological-chemical studies of digestive juices and metabolism with chemist Carl Ernst Heinrich Schmidt.
  
  Friedrich Bidder also conducted important investigations of the sympathetic nervous system with Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann, and of the spinal cord with Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer.
  
  Friedrich Bidder's name is associated with two anatomical structures: "Bidder's ganglia", and "Bidder's organ".

Works

More photos

• book

  • Neurologische Beobachtungen 1836
  • Vergleichend-anatomische und histologische Untersuchungen über die männlichen Geschlechts- und Harnw
  • Die Verdauungssaefte und der Stoffwechsel: Eine Physiologisch-Chemische Untersuchung 1852
  • Gynäkologische Mittheilungen. Gratulationsschrift zur Feier des 50 Jährigen Doctorjubiläums 1884

Membership

• 

  In 1857, Georg Friedrich Karl Heinrich von Bidder became a corresponding member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (today Russian Academy of Sciences).

  Russian Academy of Sciences , Russia

  1857 - 1884

• 

  In 1884, Friedrich Bidder was elected as an honorary member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (today Russian Academy of Sciences).

  Russian Academy of Sciences , Russia

  1884

• 

  Friedrich Bidder was the president of the Naturalists' Society at the University of Dorpat (now Estonian Naturalists' Society) from 1877 to 1890.

  Estonian Naturalists' Society , Estonia

  1877 - 1890

Connections

Georg Friedrich Karl Heinrich von Bidder was married to Marie Johanna Rapp, by whom he had two sons.

Father:

Ernst Christian von Bidder

Mother:

Amalie Jacobine von Bidder (von Strohkirch)

Brother:

August Alexander von Bidder

Sister:

Wilhelmine von Bidder

Wife:

Marie Johanna von Bidder (Rapp)

colleague:

Carl Ernst Heinrich Schmidt

Carl Ernst Heinrich Schmidt, also known as Karl Genrikhovich Schmidt, was an Estonian chemist, who determined the typical crystallization patterns of many important biochemicals such as uric acid, oxalic acid and its salts, lactic acid, cholesterin, stearin, etc.

colleague:

Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann

Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann was a German physiologist, anatomist, and philosopher, who specialized in the study of the nervous and optic systems.

colleague:

Karl Wilhelm Ritter von Kupffer

Karl Wilhelm Ritter von Kupffer was a German anatomist, who discovered stellate macrophage cells that bear his name.

References

• The Autonomic Nervous System: Part 1
  1921
• Geschichte Der Physiologischen Chemie
  1935
• A History Of Nutrition: The Sequence Of Ideas In Nutrition Investigations
  1957
• Die Historischen Grundlagen der Leberforschung
  1967