Felix Jacob Marchand

Who was Felix Jacob Marchand?

Felix Jacob Marchand was a German pathologist born in Halle an der Saale.

He studied medicine in Berlin, and later became an assistant at the pathological institute in Halle. In 1881 he became a professor of pathological anatomy in Giessen, and two years later garnered the same position at Marburg. In 1900 he succeeded pathologist Felix Victor Birch-Hirschfeld at the University of Leipzig.

In 1904 Marchand is credited with coining the term atherosclerosis from the Greek "athero", meaning gruel, and "sclerosis", meaning hardening, to describe the fatty substance inside a hardened artery. His name is lent to the eponymous "Marchand's adrenals", which is accessory adrenal tissue in the broad ligament of the uterus.

Among his written works is a 1915 textbook on pathology that he co-authored with Ludolf von Krehl, called "Handbuch der allgemeinen Pathologie".