Rokitansky ranks with Morgagni as among the greatest of all writers on gross pathology. He is said to have performed over 30,000 autopsies himself. His Handbuch was for many years pre-eminent among its contemporaries. Although Rokitansky embraced more than one false doctrine, he was quick to admit and correct his mistakes. Virchow’s criticism of the first edition of the Handbuch led Rokitansky to re-write it. He foresaw the eventual importance of chemical pathology, at that time non-existent. Vol. 1 of the first edition was published last; vol. 3 was published first.

Vol. 3 (1842), p. 313: Rokitansky’s classic description of the pathological picture of acute yellow atrophy of the liver. Rokitansky named the disease; it has also been called “Rokitansky’s disease”.

English translation, 4 vols., London, 1849-54.