Adolf Retzius is different

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Retzius is different

Anders Adolf Retzius (born October 13, 1796 in Lund , † April 18, 1860 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish anatomist and anthropologist .

Life

As a child, Retzius was familiarized with natural history , especially with zoology, from his father Anders Jahan Retzius (1742–1821) . During his medical studies in Lund and Copenhagen he was under the influence of the anatomist Arvid Henrik Florman (1761-1840), who introduced him to the methods of dissection.

In 1816 Retzius spent a year studying in Copenhagen and befriended the anatomist Ludwig Levin Jacobson (1783-1843), the physicist Hans Christian Ørsted (1777-1851) and the zoologist Johan Christopher Hagemann Reinhardt (1776-1845). After returning to Lund, he finished his medical studies there. In 1817 he received his medical license and in 1818 he was promoted to surgery magister . In 1819 he submitted his dissertation on the anatomy of the cartilaginous fish ( dogfish ) ( Observationes in anatomiam chondropterygium praecipue Squali et rajae generum ).

Retzius served as a military doctor, first in Skåne , later in Jämtland . In 1823, four years after his doctorate, Retzius became professor of veterinary medicine at the Veterinary Institute in Stockholm, where he founded an anatomical museum. From 1824 he was teacher of anatomy at the Karolinska Institute , in 1824 deputy professor (1830 also inspector), which he headed as a full professor of anatomy from 1840 until his death on April 18, 1860.

Anders Adolf Retzius' grave on Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm

Anders Retzius married in 1835; his second wife, the mother of Magnus Gustaf Retzius (1842–1919), was Emilia Sofia Wahlberg, a sister of the botanist and entomologist Peter Fredrik Wahlberg (1800–1877). Anders Adolf Retzius was a member of many scientific societies in Germany and abroad.

Act

Contributions to anatomy

Upper anterior tooth in which the Retzius stripes can be clearly seen in the full image resolution

Retzius is considered to be the pioneer of comparative anatomy in Sweden. In addition, his work on the direct connection between the spinal and sympathetic nervous system is one of the best-known achievements in human anatomy. Already during his studies for his dissertation he described the internal organs of the cartilaginous fish. Later, in 1822 and 1824, he published work on the hagfish ( Myxinoida ). Together with Johannes Peter Müller (1801-1858) he carried out studies on the morphology of the lancet fish (Amphioxiformes). Müller presented the results to the Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1841 .

In 1833, on the occasion of a congress in Breslau, Jan Evangelista Purkinje (1787–1869) introduced him to the technique of microscopy , which opened up new areas of research for Retzius, in particular on the histological structure and development of the teeth of various animal species. Further research areas can be found in macroscopic anatomy, especially the skeletal muscles as well as the circulatory and nervous system, as well as in topographical anatomy and physical anthropology .

Most of his works were published in the Archive for Anatomy and Physiology , in Notes from the Fields of Natural and Medicinal Science and in the Archive for Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine .

Contributions to anthropology

A characteristic of the medicine of the Biedermeier between 1830 and 1850, whose spirit Retzius shaped, is the addiction to experience of the still "pre-experimental" medicine. The descriptive method of comparison in anatomy is preferred . One tries to find empirical laws and, if possible, backs them up numerically . Retzius also does this in his anthropological studies, taking the step from what was then still a “pseudoscientific” anthropology to quantifying its statements.

Contributions to craniometry

Retzius developed classifications of various body characteristics of ethnically different groups in Europe . Retzius obtained his material from prehistoric graves in Scandinavia as well as through journeys that showed him the many variations of the skull shapes of European ethnic groups. In 1840 he developed a measuring method to record such features. With his "Zephalo-Index" he proved that there are two different types of skull universally : the dolichocephalic and the brachycephalic .

In this way, Retzius was able to quantitatively record different manifestations of different body characteristics and to find a mathematical expression for them. Physical anthropology emerges from his work as a new science. The prehistoric skulls that Retzius measured can be found in the Museum of Normal and Pathological Anatomy in Stockholm, which he founded.

Member of scientific societies

Eponyms

anatomy

  • Retzius body
  • Retzius stripes
  • Retzius gyrus, intralimbic gyrus
  • Retzius (cavity), retropubic space, Cavum retzii, spatium retropubicum.
  • Retzius veins: anastomoses of small veins in the intestinal wall and mesentery, the portal vein and the inferior vena cava. ( Portocaval anastomoses ).

Awards

Retzius' daughter-in-law Anna Hierta-Retzius donated the Anders-Retzius Medal awarded by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography in 1910 . In 2015, however, the company decided to stop awarding the medal because it no longer considered it appropriate to name an award after Retzius. His research served the development of racial theories and in the course of this he collected skulls of problematic origin. The Swedish Medical Society ( Svenska Läkaresällskapet ) also named an award after him.

Works (selection)

  • About the skull shapes of the northern inhabitants. In: Archives for Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine. Berlin 1845, pp. 84-129.
  • Remarks on the internal structure of the teeth, with particular reference to the tubular structure occurring in the tooth bone. In: Archives for Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine. Berlin 1837, pp. 486-566.
  • Via the pelvoprostatic ligament, or the apparatus by which the bladder, prostate, and urethra are attached to the lower opening of the pelvis. In: Müller's Arch. Anat. Physiol. Knowledge Med. Year 1849, pp. 182-196.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Staffan Helmfrid: Geography in Sweden . In: Belgeo . No. 1 , 2004, p. 163-174 ( online [accessed August 24, 2014]).
  2. ↑ Björn af Kleen: Stop för medalj till rasforskarens minne. In: Dagens Nyheter . March 7, 2015, accessed April 1, 2015 (Swedish).

literature

  • O. Larsell: Anders Adolf Retzius (1796-1860). In: Annals of Medical History. No. 1, New York 1924, pp. 16-24.
  • Göran Åstrand: Här vilar berömda svenskar . 1999, ISBN 91-89086-02-3 .

Web links

Commons : Anders Retzius  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Retzius, Anders Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish anatomist and anthropologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Lund
DATE OF DEATH April 18, 1860
Place of death Stockholm