Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 958

JOHANN FRIEDRICH MECKEL (1724-1774) Tractatus anatomico physiologicus de quinto pare nervorum cerebri. Apud Abram Vandenhoeck 1748 [8] vi, 136 pp., 2 fold. plates. 21 cm.

Often called "The Elder" to distinguish him from his grandson (see No. 1367), Meckel was the first in a family of four noted German anatomists. He was followed by his son, Philipp Friedrich Theodor, and later by two grandsons. Meckel studied medicine at Göttingen where he was graduated in 1748. He returned to Berlin, became prosector in anatomy, and was the first to teach obstetrics at the Charité in Paris. He became professor of anatomy, botany, and obstetrics at Berlin in 1751. Meckel devoted much of his time to the study of anatomy and was the first to describe the submandibular ganglion. He also made important studies of the nerve supply of the face and the terminal visceral branches of the veins and lymphatics. The present work was Meckel's doctoral dissertation and contains his description of the sphenomaxillary ganglion (Meckel's ganglion) and of the recess in the dura that lodges Gasser's ganglion (Meckel's cave). Meckel was one of Haller's (see No. 880 ff.) finest pupils and a commendatory letter from Haller is included at the end of the book.

See Related Record(s): 1367 880

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 1249; Waller 6408

Given in memory of Dr. John Roger Porter