Phillip Franz von Siebold continued

The Second Japanese Visit

became the first female physician inJapan and went on to become a famous
gynaecologist. She died in 1903.

When back in Japan, Japanese patients
wished to consult their old, revered doctor. Siebold did not consider himself as a
medical doctor, but was helped by his
daughter Oine to treat patients successfully. In Japan, Von Siebold could
observe that through his pupils Ryosi,
Gemboku, and Seikai, official recognition of Western medicine was realized.
He could see that the bridge between
Western and Japanese science had asound basis. Nevertheless, he left Japanfor the Netherlands in 1862 as a disappointed and sickish man. He returned tohis native country Germany two years
later and died in Munich in 1866.
In Japan he left not only his dedicatedpupils, but also two of his children - hisdaughter Oine and his son Alexander(son of his German wife Helene vonGagern), who became a diplomat in theJapanese service and started a family inJapan with a Japanese wife. Siebold left
in Japan not only his knowledge ofWestern Medicine, but also his genes.

The inter-Japan period : 1830-59
What Siebold took with him fromJapan to the Netherlands, was possibly
even more impressive than what he left
behind. In 1830 he settled in Leiden at
the Rapenburg 19 (13 houses awayfrom the house at the Rapenburg where
we once lived). There he compiled hismonumental work on Japan, ‘Nippon’,opened his Japanese Museum, and published ‘Flora Japonica’.
In 1837 the Von Siebold collection was
acquired by the Dutch state, and established as a national museum. It is the
major source of information on aspectsof daily life in that period of Japan, prepared by an almost obsessed collector
and note taker. Von Siebold asked thefamous Japanese artist Hokusai to makeblock prints of the life of a Japanese
man and woman respectively from cradle to grave, a request never made by
Hokusai’s Japanese clients. However,most of the artwork of the Von Siebold
collection was made by Kawahara
Keiga. It was extensively used for Von
Siebold’s book ‘Nippon’.
In 1842 he left medicine completely,
and became a member of the generalstaff of the VOC. In 1855, he became
the adviser on Japanese affairs to theNetherlands Ministry of Colonies. By
that time he knew personally the firsttwo Dutch kings, King William I andKing William II and had acquired a
Dutch baronacy (Jonkheer). In 1857
his banishment was officially lifted by
the Shogunate. His return to Japan, forwhich he had been fighting since 1830,
became possible. In 1859 he returned
to Japan, a famous and rather pompousman, as shown in the 1859 portrait.
His son Alexander, born in 1846
accompanied him. He returned toJapan not as a medical doctor, but as a
diplomat and adviser to the VOC.
INTERNATIONAL PATHOLOGY (ISSN 0020-8205)
is published quarterly by International Academy of
Pathology, AFIP, Washington, D.C. 20306.
Periodicals postage at Washington, D.C. andadditional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to:Administrative Officer
International Academy of Pathology
3643 Walton Way Extension
Augusta, Georgia 30909-7550

Dr. Mathilde E. Boon1 and Dr. Lambrecht P. Kok2
1 Leiden Cytology and Pathology Laboratory, PO
Box 16084, 2301 GB Leiden, The Netherlands and2 Institute for Theoretical Physics, Nijenborgh 4,9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
The historical data was obtained from the following
two books:
1. The First Four Centuries of Netherlands - Japan
Relations ; the mission of Hippocrates in Japan ;Philipp Franz von Siebold in his role as medical doct o r. O n t h e o c c a s i o n o f t h e Vo n Si e b o l dCommemoration, 28-30 October 1996, Amsterdam/
Leiden, The Netherlands
2. Museum voor Volkenkunde Rotterdam: In thewake of the Liefde: cultural relations between The
Netherlands and Japan, since 1600. De Bataafsche
Leeuw, Amsterdam, 1986.

Fourth Postgraduate Course in Diagnostic Cytology
continued

The program is endorsed by The
Cytotechnologists, Inc. (GNYAC)
For further information: Office ofContinuing Medical Education, Albert
Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiorre
Medical Center, 3301 Bainbridge Avenue,
Bronx, M.Y. 10467.
Tel: 718 920 6677 Fax: 718 798 2336
Email: cme@juno.com

Postgraduate Course in Urologic
Surgical Pathology
May 1 - 3, 1998
T h e D e p a r t m e n t o f Pa t h o l o g y,
Ma s s a c h u s e t t s G e n e r a l Ho s p i t a l(MGH), Harvard Medical School(HMS) will present a three-day postgraduate course in Urologic Surgical
Pathology under the direction of Dr
Robert H. Young with additional MGH,
HMS faculty of Dr Robert E. Scully andguest faculty Dr Mahul Amin (Henry
Ford Hospital), Dr David G. Bostwick(Mayo Clinic) and John N. Eble
(Indiana University).
The objective of this course is to provide
a comprehensive review of urologic surgical pathology with special attention paid
to recent advances and newly recognizedentities. Instruction will be primarily bylecture, but will also include discussion
periods. Registrants will have the opportunity to review glass slides of selectedunusual cases in the laboratories of the
Massachusetts General Hospital during
the evenings. Each participant will receive
a comprehensive course syllabus.
The course has Category I accreditationfor 23 hours CME credit by theAmerican Medical Association. The fee
for the course is $575.00 (residents andfellows $425).
For further information contact:
Department of Continuing Education,
Harvard Medical School, PO Box 825,
Boston, MA. 02115. U.S.A.
Ph 617 432 0195 Fax 617 432 1562.

Published four times a year by theInternational Academy of Pathology
Internet Address: http://www2.afip.mil
PRESIDENT
Cecilia M.Fenoglio-Preiser, MD
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of Cincinnati Medical Center
231 Bethesda Avenue
Cincinnati Ohio 45267-0529 USA
Fax: 1 513 558 2289
SECRETARY
Florabel G. Mullick, MD
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Center for Advanced Pathology
Washington DC 20306-6000 USA
Fax: 1-202-782-7166
Email: mullick@email.afip.osd.mil
TREASURER
Jack P. Strong, MD
Path Department LSU Medical Center
1901 Perdido Street
New Orleans LA 70112-1393 USA
Fax: 1-504-568-6037
EDITOR
Robin A. Cooke, MD, FRCPA, FRCPath.
The Wesley Medical Centre
40 Chasely Street
Brisbane Australia 4066
Fax: 617-3870-4710
Email: cooker@ozemail.com.au

IAP Congress 2000, in
Nagoya, JapanThe Pathologists of Japan are inviting
Pathologists from all over the world tovisit their country in the year 2000 tosee what Japanese Pathology has contributed, and is contributing, to thisdiscipline. At the meeting in Nagoya
they will provide a meeting place for
the Pathologists of the world, not only
to look at their own achievements but
also to provide a forum in which
advances in other countries can be discussed for the benefit of the international community of Pathologists.
Shortly after the XII Congress of the
I.A.P. in Budapest there was a meetingin Amsterdam, The Netherlands(October 28 - 30, 1996) to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of contact
between the Netherlands and Japan. Dr
Von Siebold is credited as having introduced the theory and practice ofWestern medicine to Japan in the early
19th century. Dr Thilly Boon delivered
a lecture on Von Siebold to this meeting. She and her husband Lambrecht
agreed to contribute the text of this lecture to the News Bulletin.
It seems appropriate that the first official mention of the Congress 2000
should begin with Von Siebold.

Phillip Franz vonSiebold (1796-1866)
ACCENT AIGU - Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) - La Promenade des Anglais/aquarelle 1928/
Galerie Fanny Guillon-Lafaille

Periodicals postage paid at
Washington, D.C. and additional
mailing office.

Vol 39 No 1 1998

XXII International Congress of theInternational Academy of Pathology
and 13th World Congress of Academic
and Environmental Pathology
Nice, France
October 18 - 23, 1998
Congress Office:
CONVERGENCES / IAP’98
120 avenue Gambetta, 75020 Paris, FRANCE.
Tel: (33) 01 43 64 77 77
Fax: (33) 01 40 31 01 65
Email: CONVERGE @ IWAY.FR

The Man with the Two Faces- The
Oil Painting and the Stamp
In Dokko University, Tochigi, Japan, in
the room of the Dean of the Medical
Faculty, an oil painting on the wall
depicts a grave looking bearded man,heavy set, and we can read that this
pompous middle-aged man is Franz
von Siebold. The painting is of mediocre quality and unsigned.
It appears to have been painted from alithograph by E. Chiossone in 1875,
made 11 years after his death. The

The middle-aged Von Siebold. A Japanese copy inoil possibly painted after the lithograph by E.
Chiossone.

lithograph in turn was made from a
portrait dating back to 1859. This portrait depicts the same man as in the
Dokko painting, with the same decorations on his breast.
We received a photographic copy of thispainting from Dr Shigemitsu Shida,when we visited Japan in 1986. Hethought we would appreciate it. We did
not tell Dr Shida that we did not know
anything about this, in his words “very,
very famous Dutchman”.
Bergas made the well known portrait of
the tired looking Von Siebold in his fifties, in black and white, of which wefind many versions in books and publications. We can see the same sombre
looking bearded man three-dimensional, in bronze, in Nagasaki, in the smallpark where once his house stood.
Probably the bronze was also madefrom the Bergas portrait. This bearded
man looks completely different fromthe clean shaven, zestful young man in
the 80 Yen stamp, the small chin dimple now revealed.
continued page 2

The young Von Siebold on a 80 Yen stamp.

We received a sheet of 20 of these stamps
from Dr Tadao Kobayashi, as a present
when we visited Japan in 1996. Kobayashi
thought we would like to see that our
famous countryman even embellishedJapanese stamps. Younger and thinner,
this Von Siebold looks like a different
man. Even the name is not identical, on
the stamp having a Philipp extra, Philipp
Franz von Siebold. At a closer look one
can see that the eyebrows (delicately
curved) are the same, and the hair partingis on the same side (being left in both portraits). We also see many versions of thisportrait of the young Von Siebold. In colour the eyes of the younger Von Siebold
are cobalt blue, and have a penetrating
quality. In the older portraits they are
more faded. The two portraits are fromthe two periods that Von Siebold was inJapan, the first being from 1823 till 1829,
as a dashing young doctor, working for
the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie( VOC : The Dutch East Indies
Company). The second being from 1859
to 1862, when Von Siebold was an
employee of the Netherlands Trading
Company. We observe that he has becomea tired old man. He had not practiced
medicine for thirty years and accordingly
did not see himself as a medical doctor
any more, but as a diplomat. The years
between those two Japanese periods hadchanged this man profoundly - hence thetwo different faces.
In Europe, Von Siebold acquired famefor his fundamental contributions to
the knowledge of Japan’s history, geography, anthropology, and natural history. In Japan, where he is usually called
Siebold, he is seen as the key promoterof the understanding of Western
Medicine. Two faces of one man.

Hope, Faith, Love, Loyalty, andGood NewsOn 19 April 1600 the first Dutch shipvisited Japan. In fact this ship, the Liefde(=Love) ran aground. It had leftRotterdam in June 1598, together withfour other ships Hoop (=Hope), Geloof(=Faith), Trouw (=Loyalty), and Blijde
Boodschap (=Good News), on a mission
westwards to the East Indies. The
Portuguese were the first Westerners to
get a foothold in Japan, in the second halfof the 16th century. They were driven out
as a result of the (for the Japanese) unacceptable bapitization drive of the Jesuits.
For the Dutch, trade was more important
than religion. Thus, practically without
interruption from 1609 onwards (firstfrom Hirado and after 1642 from
Deshima, part of Nagasaki) regular andexclusive trade continued until 1853. Inthat year Commodore Perry of the U.S.
Navy arrived with a squadron of ‘black
ships’ enforcing the opening of Japan.
Until then, the Dutch were the only
Westerners who were allowed to maintaintrade and cultural contacts, albeit understrict supervision. Japan was sealed off.
Japanese were forbidden on pain of death
to travel to or return from overseas or totrade abroad. The significance of the
Dutch presence in Deshima, a small artificial island in the harbour of Nagasaki,
went far beyond the monopoly of trade.
The Dutch presence served as a channelof communication through which theJapanese obtained their knowledge of theworld at large during the centuries of
seclusion. A key role in providing information on Western Medicine is reserved
for the private school of Von Siebold. A
gifted teacher, he taught students systematically in the art and science of medicine.

1996: Sieboldization
On 2 September 1986 we visited the little park in Nagasaki where Siebold’shouse once stood. Small giggling girls inschool uniforms pointed out the road tothe park. Nowhere did we see signs, butevery Japanese we asked knew the nameSiebold. On a steep slope we found thebronze bust of the man we refer to in
our lectures in Japan as the man who
built the bridge between Japan andEurope, the East and the West.
Almost exactly ten years later we visited
the same spot. It had undergone a striking transformation. Next to the little
park with the bust there was the elegant
Siebold Museum, built in so-called
Dutch style with real (?) Du tch bricks.
This section of Nagasaki now has been
almost completely Sieboldized : wewalked along the Siebold Road, following the Siebold signs, from our minsjuku(pension) called Siebold on the Siebold
Shopping Area. (Even the lids of theSewer system in the pavement proudly
show their Siebold connection : a colourful stylized initial of the great doctor).

Siebold, the Medical Doctor
Von Siebold was predestined to become
a medical doctor, the profession of his

grandfather, his father, and his uncles,
who constituted the so-called Academia
Sieboldiana, at Wuerzburg, Germany.
His teachers were masters in anatomical
technique, and well versed in botany. In
1820 he received the Doctor’s degree inmedicine, surgery, and anatomy, andstarted a two-year general practitionership at Heidingsveld, Germany. But hewas looking for adventure, and therefore
he headed for The Netherlands to find a
job as medical doctor in the Far East.
He became surgeon-major of the VOC.
In Batavia he met the Dutch GovernorGeneral Van der Capellen, who waslooking for a learned and successful
physician to send to Japan in order to
get acquainted with Japanese scholars
and to build a two-way bridge between
Japanese and Western science.
Von Siebold, only 26 years old, and having a mere two years of medical experience, impressed Van der Capellan somuch with his wide interests, that hewas selected for that mission. In 1823
Von Siebold was appointed as VOC
Station Doctor at Deshima, Japan.
From the side of the VOC, the Dutch
captains and medical doctors of Deshima
were encouraged to increase Dutch influence in Japan by building relationships
based on confidence. Interest in medical
sciences in Japan was great. What Von
Siebold achieved in only a few years wascolossal. In this he was helped greatly by
the foundations laid by the departing
Captain Cock Blomhoff, who was a merchant and not a scientist but was wellenough versed in medicine and science tocommunicate well with Japanese doctors.
Cock Blomhoff introduced Von Siebold
on his arrival in Deshima to some excellent Japanese physicians, Minato Choan,
Mima Junzo, Hirai Kaizo, and Oka
Kenkai, all living in Nagasaki. Von
Siebold, who had brought a new supplyof vaccine against smallpox with him,
continued a smallpox vaccination program started through Cock Blomhoff six
months earlier.
Soon after his arrival, in 1824, Von
Siebold opened the Narutaki Juku
Medical School. The abovementioned
Japanese doctors were enrolled, and also
Ko Ryosai. The lessons given were in
Dutch, not only to the Japanese doctors
but also to the later enrolled young students. Soon he had 17 students, who
not only got theoretical education inWestern medicine, but also were present
at the operations performed by Von
Siebold. These included an operation
for an anal fistula, repair of a scrotal hernia, and the removal of a hyperkeratosis
from the foreskin.
Dutch books, popular among generalpractitioners in The Netherlands andbrought by Von Siebold to Japan, wereused for the teaching. These books were
written in a simple and concise style, andwere not as complicated as the contemporary university textbooks. It was very
wise of Von Siebold to make this selection, because these books were relatively
easy to translate into Japanese. Von
Siebold’s approach was not only didactically clever, but also very systematic. The
curriculum included surgery, botany, andphysics. The precise number of studentstaught by Von Siebold is not know.
Estimates vary between 50 and 170.
It appears that more than medicine, Von
Siebold loved botany. In Japan he successfully combined both. He collected
medicinal herbs which he tested for theireffects. To facilitate these studies, heestablished a herb garden in Deshima,
which he also used for his instructions to
his students. His botanical lessons concerning drugs were translated to Japanese
by Ko Ryosai, who offered the printed
versions of his Yakubin shuroku to hismaster in 1826. In this book, the names,
indications and prescriptions of indigenous plants were given, including some
unknown to the Japanese of being medicinally active such as digitalis, belladonna,
arak, and coffee. But Von Siebold also
exploited Japanese knowledge. He analyzed secret remedies, and establishedthat Sankirei was an excellent antisypilitic
agent and he recommended Bukuryo as adiuretic to his European patients. He
truly established a two-way bridge
between Eastern and Western medicine.

Two versions of the “Siebold affair”
In 1829 Siebold was banished for life
from Japan. There seem to be two versions of the so-called “Siebold Affair”.
The first we read in 1987 in Tokyo when
we visited the exhibition “In the Wake of
the Liefde”. There it is related that
Siebold, as a reward for an operation on
the eye of a short-sighted astronomer at
the Shogun’s court, received a secret mapof the country. Upon discovery he was
expelled, accused of being a spy. The second version is that in Edo, the city of thecourt, he met the ophthalmologist Habu
Genseki. He told this Japanese doctorthat he used belladonna to facilitate ophthalmological operations. In return,
Genseki gave Siebold a kosode (state
dress) with the crest of the Togukawa
family (the family of the Shogun). This
present was classified as forbidden goods.
In the second version concerning thereason for the downfall of Siebold, not a
map but this dress was the source of histroubles.
What Siebold left behind was impressive. A school, with many avid admirers,
a botanical garden with as many as 1400
species, and a daughter Oine born to his
Japanese wife Kusumoto Sonogi. Oine
continued page 4

THE IAP IN ACTION
Indian Division News

Surgeon Captain P. Sivadas

The Indian Division now has a new
President, Surgeon Captain P. Sivadas,
Director, Armed Forces Medical
Services (Medical Research).
His office is in the Ministry of Defence,
New Delhi. Dr Sivadas graduated fromthe Armed Forces Medical College in
Poona. This College was established totrain doctors to work in the medical
centres in the various hospitals run by
the Armed Forces. Dr Sivadas is in the
Indian Navy. He has served in many
hospitals during the past twenty nine
years. In his early days he was a Faculty
Member of the Armed Forces Medical
College in Poona. The Secretary /Treasurer is Dr Francisco Couto fromthe city of Panaji in Goa.
About 250 delegates attended theAnnual Meeting of the Indian Divisionof the I.A.P. held in Bangalore on 22nd
December 1996. The Guest of Honour
was Dr Kum Cooper, President of theSouth African Division of the I.A.P. Dr
G.N. Mohanty from Orissa Stateretired as Secretary / Treasurer after abusy three year term of office.

Pathology and HLA”. This was conducted in Chandigarh on August 30 and 31.
The Annual Meeting of the Division washeld in the city of Jodhpur in the Stateof Rajisthan. The Chief Guest Speaker
was Dr Hoshang Bharucha, SeniorLecturer in Pathology, The Queens
University of Belfast. Dr Bharucha spoke
about asbestos related diseases. As well as
his expertise in lung pathology he isheavily involved in development of automated cytology. In particular, he is
Medical Advisor to Neopath Inc.
A slide seminar entitled Tumour
and Tumour-like Lesions of the
Gastrointestinal Tract was conducted by
Dr (Miss) Meera Mathur, Professor,
Department of Pathology, All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
A Symposium entitled Non-Neoplastic
Lesions of Breast was conducted by Dr
Jyotsna Pandey, Senior Pathology,
Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi.
Francisco Cuoto

MEETINGS
British Division of The IAP
Symposium on Neoplastic Skin
DiseaseNijmegen, The Netherlands, 8-9 May
1998

Symposium on Breast Pathology
London, 27-28 November 1998

Symposium on Pulmonary
Pathology
Swansea, 16-17 April 1998
Contact Person: Mrs C Harris, PO Box73, Westbury on Trym, Bristol BS9 1RY.
Tel: 0117 907 7940 Fax: 0117 907 7941

Fourth Postgraduate Course in
Diagnostic Cytology

G.N. Mohanty

During his term the membership of theDivision increased considerably. His lastcontribution was the production of an
inaugural four page News Letter which,
it is hoped, will improve the communications within the Indian Division. In
1997 there was a mid year teaching session on the subject “CME in MolecularSouthgate Tower Hotel, 371 Seventh
Avenue (31 Street), New York, N.Y.L
Course Director: Leopold G. Koss, M.D.
June 13 - 17, 1998
This is a 5 day comprehensive review
course of the entire field of diagnostic
cytology with lectures in gynecologic
cytology, lung, fluids, GI tract and aspiration biopsy (FNA).
Special topics: ASCUS, AGUS, legal
aspects of cytopathology, techniques of
FNA, ovarian cysts, cytology automation, HPV new identification techniques, and quality control in thecytology laboratory will be discussed.
Supervised, intensive “glass slide” workshops (limited to 100 participants) andquizzes will be offered.
continued page 4

The young Von Siebold on a 80 Yen stamp.

We received a sheet of 20 of these stamps
from Dr Tadao Kobayashi, as a present
when we visited Japan in 1996. Kobayashi
thought we would like to see that our
famous countryman even embellishedJapanese stamps. Younger and thinner,
this Von Siebold looks like a different
man. Even the name is not identical, on
the stamp having a Philipp extra, Philipp
Franz von Siebold. At a closer look one
can see that the eyebrows (delicately
curved) are the same, and the hair partingis on the same side (being left in both portraits). We also see many versions of thisportrait of the young Von Siebold. In colour the eyes of the younger Von Siebold
are cobalt blue, and have a penetrating
quality. In the older portraits they are
more faded. The two portraits are fromthe two periods that Von Siebold was inJapan, the first being from 1823 till 1829,
as a dashing young doctor, working for
the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie( VOC : The Dutch East Indies
Company). The second being from 1859
to 1862, when Von Siebold was an
employee of the Netherlands Trading
Company. We observe that he has becomea tired old man. He had not practiced
medicine for thirty years and accordingly
did not see himself as a medical doctor
any more, but as a diplomat. The years
between those two Japanese periods hadchanged this man profoundly - hence thetwo different faces.
In Europe, Von Siebold acquired famefor his fundamental contributions to
the knowledge of Japan’s history, geography, anthropology, and natural history. In Japan, where he is usually called
Siebold, he is seen as the key promoterof the understanding of Western
Medicine. Two faces of one man.

Hope, Faith, Love, Loyalty, andGood NewsOn 19 April 1600 the first Dutch shipvisited Japan. In fact this ship, the Liefde(=Love) ran aground. It had leftRotterdam in June 1598, together withfour other ships Hoop (=Hope), Geloof(=Faith), Trouw (=Loyalty), and Blijde
Boodschap (=Good News), on a mission
westwards to the East Indies. The
Portuguese were the first Westerners to
get a foothold in Japan, in the second halfof the 16th century. They were driven out
as a result of the (for the Japanese) unacceptable bapitization drive of the Jesuits.
For the Dutch, trade was more important
than religion. Thus, practically without
interruption from 1609 onwards (firstfrom Hirado and after 1642 from
Deshima, part of Nagasaki) regular andexclusive trade continued until 1853. Inthat year Commodore Perry of the U.S.
Navy arrived with a squadron of ‘black
ships’ enforcing the opening of Japan.
Until then, the Dutch were the only
Westerners who were allowed to maintaintrade and cultural contacts, albeit understrict supervision. Japan was sealed off.
Japanese were forbidden on pain of death
to travel to or return from overseas or totrade abroad. The significance of the
Dutch presence in Deshima, a small artificial island in the harbour of Nagasaki,
went far beyond the monopoly of trade.
The Dutch presence served as a channelof communication through which theJapanese obtained their knowledge of theworld at large during the centuries of
seclusion. A key role in providing information on Western Medicine is reserved
for the private school of Von Siebold. A
gifted teacher, he taught students systematically in the art and science of medicine.

1996: Sieboldization
On 2 September 1986 we visited the little park in Nagasaki where Siebold’shouse once stood. Small giggling girls inschool uniforms pointed out the road tothe park. Nowhere did we see signs, butevery Japanese we asked knew the nameSiebold. On a steep slope we found thebronze bust of the man we refer to in
our lectures in Japan as the man who
built the bridge between Japan andEurope, the East and the West.
Almost exactly ten years later we visited
the same spot. It had undergone a striking transformation. Next to the little
park with the bust there was the elegant
Siebold Museum, built in so-called
Dutch style with real (?) Du tch bricks.
This section of Nagasaki now has been
almost completely Sieboldized : wewalked along the Siebold Road, following the Siebold signs, from our minsjuku(pension) called Siebold on the Siebold
Shopping Area. (Even the lids of theSewer system in the pavement proudly
show their Siebold connection : a colourful stylized initial of the great doctor).

Siebold, the Medical Doctor
Von Siebold was predestined to become
a medical doctor, the profession of his

grandfather, his father, and his uncles,
who constituted the so-called Academia
Sieboldiana, at Wuerzburg, Germany.
His teachers were masters in anatomical
technique, and well versed in botany. In
1820 he received the Doctor’s degree inmedicine, surgery, and anatomy, andstarted a two-year general practitionership at Heidingsveld, Germany. But hewas looking for adventure, and therefore
he headed for The Netherlands to find a
job as medical doctor in the Far East.
He became surgeon-major of the VOC.
In Batavia he met the Dutch GovernorGeneral Van der Capellen, who waslooking for a learned and successful
physician to send to Japan in order to
get acquainted with Japanese scholars
and to build a two-way bridge between
Japanese and Western science.
Von Siebold, only 26 years old, and having a mere two years of medical experience, impressed Van der Capellan somuch with his wide interests, that hewas selected for that mission. In 1823
Von Siebold was appointed as VOC
Station Doctor at Deshima, Japan.
From the side of the VOC, the Dutch
captains and medical doctors of Deshima
were encouraged to increase Dutch influence in Japan by building relationships
based on confidence. Interest in medical
sciences in Japan was great. What Von
Siebold achieved in only a few years wascolossal. In this he was helped greatly by
the foundations laid by the departing
Captain Cock Blomhoff, who was a merchant and not a scientist but was wellenough versed in medicine and science tocommunicate well with Japanese doctors.
Cock Blomhoff introduced Von Siebold
on his arrival in Deshima to some excellent Japanese physicians, Minato Choan,
Mima Junzo, Hirai Kaizo, and Oka
Kenkai, all living in Nagasaki. Von
Siebold, who had brought a new supplyof vaccine against smallpox with him,
continued a smallpox vaccination program started through Cock Blomhoff six
months earlier.
Soon after his arrival, in 1824, Von
Siebold opened the Narutaki Juku
Medical School. The abovementioned
Japanese doctors were enrolled, and also
Ko Ryosai. The lessons given were in
Dutch, not only to the Japanese doctors
but also to the later enrolled young students. Soon he had 17 students, who
not only got theoretical education inWestern medicine, but also were present
at the operations performed by Von
Siebold. These included an operation
for an anal fistula, repair of a scrotal hernia, and the removal of a hyperkeratosis
from the foreskin.
Dutch books, popular among generalpractitioners in The Netherlands andbrought by Von Siebold to Japan, wereused for the teaching. These books were
written in a simple and concise style, andwere not as complicated as the contemporary university textbooks. It was very
wise of Von Siebold to make this selection, because these books were relatively
easy to translate into Japanese. Von
Siebold’s approach was not only didactically clever, but also very systematic. The
curriculum included surgery, botany, andphysics. The precise number of studentstaught by Von Siebold is not know.
Estimates vary between 50 and 170.
It appears that more than medicine, Von
Siebold loved botany. In Japan he successfully combined both. He collected
medicinal herbs which he tested for theireffects. To facilitate these studies, heestablished a herb garden in Deshima,
which he also used for his instructions to
his students. His botanical lessons concerning drugs were translated to Japanese
by Ko Ryosai, who offered the printed
versions of his Yakubin shuroku to hismaster in 1826. In this book, the names,
indications and prescriptions of indigenous plants were given, including some
unknown to the Japanese of being medicinally active such as digitalis, belladonna,
arak, and coffee. But Von Siebold also
exploited Japanese knowledge. He analyzed secret remedies, and establishedthat Sankirei was an excellent antisypilitic
agent and he recommended Bukuryo as adiuretic to his European patients. He
truly established a two-way bridge
between Eastern and Western medicine.

Two versions of the “Siebold affair”
In 1829 Siebold was banished for life
from Japan. There seem to be two versions of the so-called “Siebold Affair”.
The first we read in 1987 in Tokyo when
we visited the exhibition “In the Wake of
the Liefde”. There it is related that
Siebold, as a reward for an operation on
the eye of a short-sighted astronomer at
the Shogun’s court, received a secret mapof the country. Upon discovery he was
expelled, accused of being a spy. The second version is that in Edo, the city of thecourt, he met the ophthalmologist Habu
Genseki. He told this Japanese doctorthat he used belladonna to facilitate ophthalmological operations. In return,
Genseki gave Siebold a kosode (state
dress) with the crest of the Togukawa
family (the family of the Shogun). This
present was classified as forbidden goods.
In the second version concerning thereason for the downfall of Siebold, not a
map but this dress was the source of histroubles.
What Siebold left behind was impressive. A school, with many avid admirers,
a botanical garden with as many as 1400
species, and a daughter Oine born to his
Japanese wife Kusumoto Sonogi. Oine
continued page 4

THE IAP IN ACTION
Indian Division News

Surgeon Captain P. Sivadas

The Indian Division now has a new
President, Surgeon Captain P. Sivadas,
Director, Armed Forces Medical
Services (Medical Research).
His office is in the Ministry of Defence,
New Delhi. Dr Sivadas graduated fromthe Armed Forces Medical College in
Poona. This College was established totrain doctors to work in the medical
centres in the various hospitals run by
the Armed Forces. Dr Sivadas is in the
Indian Navy. He has served in many
hospitals during the past twenty nine
years. In his early days he was a Faculty
Member of the Armed Forces Medical
College in Poona. The Secretary /Treasurer is Dr Francisco Couto fromthe city of Panaji in Goa.
About 250 delegates attended theAnnual Meeting of the Indian Divisionof the I.A.P. held in Bangalore on 22nd
December 1996. The Guest of Honour
was Dr Kum Cooper, President of theSouth African Division of the I.A.P. Dr
G.N. Mohanty from Orissa Stateretired as Secretary / Treasurer after abusy three year term of office.

Pathology and HLA”. This was conducted in Chandigarh on August 30 and 31.
The Annual Meeting of the Division washeld in the city of Jodhpur in the Stateof Rajisthan. The Chief Guest Speaker
was Dr Hoshang Bharucha, SeniorLecturer in Pathology, The Queens
University of Belfast. Dr Bharucha spoke
about asbestos related diseases. As well as
his expertise in lung pathology he isheavily involved in development of automated cytology. In particular, he is
Medical Advisor to Neopath Inc.
A slide seminar entitled Tumour
and Tumour-like Lesions of the
Gastrointestinal Tract was conducted by
Dr (Miss) Meera Mathur, Professor,
Department of Pathology, All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
A Symposium entitled Non-Neoplastic
Lesions of Breast was conducted by Dr
Jyotsna Pandey, Senior Pathology,
Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi.
Francisco Cuoto

MEETINGS
British Division of The IAP
Symposium on Neoplastic Skin
DiseaseNijmegen, The Netherlands, 8-9 May
1998

Symposium on Breast Pathology
London, 27-28 November 1998

Symposium on Pulmonary
Pathology
Swansea, 16-17 April 1998
Contact Person: Mrs C Harris, PO Box73, Westbury on Trym, Bristol BS9 1RY.
Tel: 0117 907 7940 Fax: 0117 907 7941

Fourth Postgraduate Course in
Diagnostic Cytology

G.N. Mohanty

During his term the membership of theDivision increased considerably. His lastcontribution was the production of an
inaugural four page News Letter which,
it is hoped, will improve the communications within the Indian Division. In
1997 there was a mid year teaching session on the subject “CME in MolecularSouthgate Tower Hotel, 371 Seventh
Avenue (31 Street), New York, N.Y.L
Course Director: Leopold G. Koss, M.D.
June 13 - 17, 1998
This is a 5 day comprehensive review
course of the entire field of diagnostic
cytology with lectures in gynecologic
cytology, lung, fluids, GI tract and aspiration biopsy (FNA).
Special topics: ASCUS, AGUS, legal
aspects of cytopathology, techniques of
FNA, ovarian cysts, cytology automation, HPV new identification techniques, and quality control in thecytology laboratory will be discussed.
Supervised, intensive “glass slide” workshops (limited to 100 participants) andquizzes will be offered.
continued page 4

Phillip Franz von Siebold continued

The Second Japanese Visit

became the first female physician inJapan and went on to become a famous
gynaecologist. She died in 1903.

When back in Japan, Japanese patients
wished to consult their old, revered doctor. Siebold did not consider himself as a
medical doctor, but was helped by his
daughter Oine to treat patients successfully. In Japan, Von Siebold could
observe that through his pupils Ryosi,
Gemboku, and Seikai, official recognition of Western medicine was realized.
He could see that the bridge between
Western and Japanese science had asound basis. Nevertheless, he left Japanfor the Netherlands in 1862 as a disappointed and sickish man. He returned tohis native country Germany two years
later and died in Munich in 1866.
In Japan he left not only his dedicatedpupils, but also two of his children - hisdaughter Oine and his son Alexander(son of his German wife Helene vonGagern), who became a diplomat in theJapanese service and started a family inJapan with a Japanese wife. Siebold left
in Japan not only his knowledge ofWestern Medicine, but also his genes.

The inter-Japan period : 1830-59
What Siebold took with him fromJapan to the Netherlands, was possibly
even more impressive than what he left
behind. In 1830 he settled in Leiden at
the Rapenburg 19 (13 houses awayfrom the house at the Rapenburg where
we once lived). There he compiled hismonumental work on Japan, ‘Nippon’,opened his Japanese Museum, and published ‘Flora Japonica’.
In 1837 the Von Siebold collection was
acquired by the Dutch state, and established as a national museum. It is the
major source of information on aspectsof daily life in that period of Japan, prepared by an almost obsessed collector
and note taker. Von Siebold asked thefamous Japanese artist Hokusai to makeblock prints of the life of a Japanese
man and woman respectively from cradle to grave, a request never made by
Hokusai’s Japanese clients. However,most of the artwork of the Von Siebold
collection was made by Kawahara
Keiga. It was extensively used for Von
Siebold’s book ‘Nippon’.
In 1842 he left medicine completely,
and became a member of the generalstaff of the VOC. In 1855, he became
the adviser on Japanese affairs to theNetherlands Ministry of Colonies. By
that time he knew personally the firsttwo Dutch kings, King William I andKing William II and had acquired a
Dutch baronacy (Jonkheer). In 1857
his banishment was officially lifted by
the Shogunate. His return to Japan, forwhich he had been fighting since 1830,
became possible. In 1859 he returned
to Japan, a famous and rather pompousman, as shown in the 1859 portrait.
His son Alexander, born in 1846
accompanied him. He returned toJapan not as a medical doctor, but as a
diplomat and adviser to the VOC.
INTERNATIONAL PATHOLOGY (ISSN 0020-8205)
is published quarterly by International Academy of
Pathology, AFIP, Washington, D.C. 20306.
Periodicals postage at Washington, D.C. andadditional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to:Administrative Officer
International Academy of Pathology
3643 Walton Way Extension
Augusta, Georgia 30909-7550

Dr. Mathilde E. Boon1 and Dr. Lambrecht P. Kok2
1 Leiden Cytology and Pathology Laboratory, PO
Box 16084, 2301 GB Leiden, The Netherlands and2 Institute for Theoretical Physics, Nijenborgh 4,9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
The historical data was obtained from the following
two books:
1. The First Four Centuries of Netherlands - Japan
Relations ; the mission of Hippocrates in Japan ;Philipp Franz von Siebold in his role as medical doct o r. O n t h e o c c a s i o n o f t h e Vo n Si e b o l dCommemoration, 28-30 October 1996, Amsterdam/
Leiden, The Netherlands
2. Museum voor Volkenkunde Rotterdam: In thewake of the Liefde: cultural relations between The
Netherlands and Japan, since 1600. De Bataafsche
Leeuw, Amsterdam, 1986.

Fourth Postgraduate Course in Diagnostic Cytology
continued

The program is endorsed by The
Cytotechnologists, Inc. (GNYAC)
For further information: Office ofContinuing Medical Education, Albert
Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiorre
Medical Center, 3301 Bainbridge Avenue,
Bronx, M.Y. 10467.
Tel: 718 920 6677 Fax: 718 798 2336
Email: cme@juno.com

Postgraduate Course in Urologic
Surgical Pathology
May 1 - 3, 1998
T h e D e p a r t m e n t o f Pa t h o l o g y,
Ma s s a c h u s e t t s G e n e r a l Ho s p i t a l(MGH), Harvard Medical School(HMS) will present a three-day postgraduate course in Urologic Surgical
Pathology under the direction of Dr
Robert H. Young with additional MGH,
HMS faculty of Dr Robert E. Scully andguest faculty Dr Mahul Amin (Henry
Ford Hospital), Dr David G. Bostwick(Mayo Clinic) and John N. Eble
(Indiana University).
The objective of this course is to provide
a comprehensive review of urologic surgical pathology with special attention paid
to recent advances and newly recognizedentities. Instruction will be primarily bylecture, but will also include discussion
periods. Registrants will have the opportunity to review glass slides of selectedunusual cases in the laboratories of the
Massachusetts General Hospital during
the evenings. Each participant will receive
a comprehensive course syllabus.
The course has Category I accreditationfor 23 hours CME credit by theAmerican Medical Association. The fee
for the course is $575.00 (residents andfellows $425).
For further information contact:
Department of Continuing Education,
Harvard Medical School, PO Box 825,
Boston, MA. 02115. U.S.A.
Ph 617 432 0195 Fax 617 432 1562.

Published four times a year by theInternational Academy of Pathology
Internet Address: http://www2.afip.mil
PRESIDENT
Cecilia M.Fenoglio-Preiser, MD
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of Cincinnati Medical Center
231 Bethesda Avenue
Cincinnati Ohio 45267-0529 USA
Fax: 1 513 558 2289
SECRETARY
Florabel G. Mullick, MD
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Center for Advanced Pathology
Washington DC 20306-6000 USA
Fax: 1-202-782-7166
Email: mullick@email.afip.osd.mil
TREASURER
Jack P. Strong, MD
Path Department LSU Medical Center
1901 Perdido Street
New Orleans LA 70112-1393 USA
Fax: 1-504-568-6037
EDITOR
Robin A. Cooke, MD, FRCPA, FRCPath.
The Wesley Medical Centre
40 Chasely Street
Brisbane Australia 4066
Fax: 617-3870-4710
Email: cooker@ozemail.com.au

IAP Congress 2000, in
Nagoya, JapanThe Pathologists of Japan are inviting
Pathologists from all over the world tovisit their country in the year 2000 tosee what Japanese Pathology has contributed, and is contributing, to thisdiscipline. At the meeting in Nagoya
they will provide a meeting place for
the Pathologists of the world, not only
to look at their own achievements but
also to provide a forum in which
advances in other countries can be discussed for the benefit of the international community of Pathologists.
Shortly after the XII Congress of the
I.A.P. in Budapest there was a meetingin Amsterdam, The Netherlands(October 28 - 30, 1996) to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of contact
between the Netherlands and Japan. Dr
Von Siebold is credited as having introduced the theory and practice ofWestern medicine to Japan in the early
19th century. Dr Thilly Boon delivered
a lecture on Von Siebold to this meeting. She and her husband Lambrecht
agreed to contribute the text of this lecture to the News Bulletin.
It seems appropriate that the first official mention of the Congress 2000
should begin with Von Siebold.

Phillip Franz vonSiebold (1796-1866)
ACCENT AIGU - Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) - La Promenade des Anglais/aquarelle 1928/
Galerie Fanny Guillon-Lafaille

Periodicals postage paid at
Washington, D.C. and additional
mailing office.

Vol 39 No 1 1998

XXII International Congress of theInternational Academy of Pathology
and 13th World Congress of Academic
and Environmental Pathology
Nice, France
October 18 - 23, 1998
Congress Office:
CONVERGENCES / IAP’98
120 avenue Gambetta, 75020 Paris, FRANCE.
Tel: (33) 01 43 64 77 77
Fax: (33) 01 40 31 01 65
Email: CONVERGE @ IWAY.FR

The Man with the Two Faces- The
Oil Painting and the Stamp
In Dokko University, Tochigi, Japan, in
the room of the Dean of the Medical
Faculty, an oil painting on the wall
depicts a grave looking bearded man,heavy set, and we can read that this
pompous middle-aged man is Franz
von Siebold. The painting is of mediocre quality and unsigned.
It appears to have been painted from alithograph by E. Chiossone in 1875,
made 11 years after his death. The

The middle-aged Von Siebold. A Japanese copy inoil possibly painted after the lithograph by E.
Chiossone.

lithograph in turn was made from a
portrait dating back to 1859. This portrait depicts the same man as in the
Dokko painting, with the same decorations on his breast.
We received a photographic copy of thispainting from Dr Shigemitsu Shida,when we visited Japan in 1986. Hethought we would appreciate it. We did
not tell Dr Shida that we did not know
anything about this, in his words “very,
very famous Dutchman”.
Bergas made the well known portrait of
the tired looking Von Siebold in his fifties, in black and white, of which wefind many versions in books and publications. We can see the same sombre
looking bearded man three-dimensional, in bronze, in Nagasaki, in the smallpark where once his house stood.
Probably the bronze was also madefrom the Bergas portrait. This bearded
man looks completely different fromthe clean shaven, zestful young man in
the 80 Yen stamp, the small chin dimple now revealed.
continued page 2