Crownprince Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia was once the hope of the liberal movement in Germany. He embodied and lived a humanistic ideal based on the spirit of the enlightenment. Starting in January 1887 the passionate pipe smoker suffered on an unusual long hoarseness. A polyp of the vocal cord was diagnosed. Although this diagnosis seemed harmless, an odyssee was launched that made history. Rudolf Virchow-the foremost pathologist of that time-was involved in the following histological diagnosis. His role and that of the sprouting histopathology will be presented in this essay.