Vittorio Marchi

Vittorio Marchi (30 May 1851, Novellara – 12 May 1908, Iesi) was an Italian neurologist and histologist.

Vittorio Marchi (1851-1908)

He studied pharmaceutical chemistry and medicine at the University of Modena, earning his doctorate in 1882.^[1] He was head of the histology laboratory at the psychiatric hospital of Reggio Emilia, and later director of the primary medical hospital in Iesi.^[2]

He was the creator of a popular osmium-based staining method ("Marchi stain") for the demonstration of degenerating nerve fibers.^[3][4] In the late 1890s, he was a pioneer of meningioma surgery.^[4]

Additional eponyms

• Marchi fixative: A substance used to demonstrate degenerating myelin.
• Marchi reaction: The failure of a nerve's myelin sheath to blacken when submitted to the processes of osmic acid.
• Marchi tract: Synonym for the tectospinal tract.^[3]

Selected writings

• Nota preventiva sulla fina anatomia dei corpi striati. Communicata all'Academia di Medicina di Torino, 1883 - Nota preventiva on fine anatomy of the corpus striatum. Communication of the Academy of Medicine of Turin.
• Sulle degenerazioni discendenti consecutive a lesioni sperimentali in diverse zone della corteccia cerebrale. (with Giovanni Algeri), 1888 - On degenerative descending consecutive lesions of the cerebral cortex.
• Sull' origine e decorso dei peduncoli cerebellari e sui loro rapporti cogli altri centri nervosi, 1891 - The origin and paths of cerebellar peduncles and their relationships with other nerve centers.^[5]