Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grave plaque for Philipp Theodor Meckel in arch 76 of the city godsack in Halle

Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (born April 30, 1755 in Berlin , † March 17, 1803 in Halle ) was a German medic. He was a prosector in Strasbourg and in 1779 became professor of anatomy , surgery and obstetrics in Halle an der Saale.

life and work

The eldest son of Johann Friedrich Meckel (the Elder) (1724–1774) and his wife Carlotte Louise Camman were taught by private tutors in his youth. Mainly won over by his father for the medical sciences, he began to study medicine at the University of Göttingen in September 1773 . His father died in 1774, and he inherited his extensive anatomical collection. He continued his studies at the University of Strasbourg , where, among other things, the surgeon Johann Friedrich Lobstein was his teacher in the subjects of anatomy and obstetrics.

In Strasbourg, where he to the aqueduct of vestibular and cochlear aqueduct descriptive dissertation De labyrinthi auris contentis 1777 doctorate was Meckel worked for a time as Prosektor under Lobenstein. From Strasbourg he went on an educational trip that took him to universities in France and England. In 1779 he was appointed full professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Halle , where he became prorector.

The activity as an anatomist, which also included teaching physiology, was only one of his extensive areas of work. From 1788 he headed the surgical department of the clinic in Glaucha and was a sought-after surgeon outside of this official position. He translated the obstetrical works of the French Baudeloque, founded a private maternity hospital and was called to deliver deliveries to the Tsar's court in St. Petersburg in 1795 and 1797 . In 1795 Catherine II had offered him the management of the entire medical university institute in Petersburg. However, the rejection earned him the Prussian privy council title.

On March 17, 1803, Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel died at the age of 47 after a serious illness of jaundice. His friend and colleague Reil accompanied him for the last few weeks and made sure that his last wish was fulfilled: that he would be dissected after his death, his skeleton would be artificially assembled and kept in his own cupboard. In fact, there were two anatomical peculiarities: a forehead seam and a 13th pair of ribs . The remains of the body were buried in the city churchyard.

He married Johanna Charlotta Lauer († 1782) in 1780. They had only one child together, the anatomist Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder. J. Johanna Charlotta Lauer was a daughter of the Halle merchant Johann Jacob Lauer (1723–1772) and a cousin of Adolf Julius Lauer (1755–1831), who was ennobled in 1790 . About a year after the death of his first wife, Meckel married Therese Christiane Catharine Luise, the daughter of the theologian Carl Tobias Jetzke .

literature

Archival sources

  • City archive of the city of Halle, signatures FA 1438, 2586

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rüdiger Schultka and Josef N. Neumann: Anatomy and anatomical collections in the 18th century , Berlin 2007, p. 40.
  2. ↑ Hans-Georg Schede: Caroline Schede. A history of private life in Goethe's time , Berlin 2018, p. 56 f. , see. P. 395. and p. 154.
personal data
SURNAME Meckel, Philipp Friedrich Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German medic
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1755
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1803
Place of death Halle (Saale)