Papers by Rüdiger Schultka
[Genealogy of the Meckel anatomy family (from Hem[b]sbach)]
Annals of anatomy = Anatomischer Anzeiger : official organ of the Anatomische Gesellschaft, 2002
The main goal of our investigations is to complete the genealogy of the famous Meckel dynasty. It... more The main goal of our investigations is to complete the genealogy of the famous Meckel dynasty. It is important to answer a lot of questions which have remained unanswered until now. During the investigations we were able to find the names of three children who died early and were dissected by their father Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755-1803). Besides, it was possible to extend distinctly our knowledge of the various genealogical lines of the Meckel family.
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[The scholarly program of Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781-1833) and it importance for the development of life sciences]
Annals of anatomy = Anatomischer Anzeiger : official organ of the Anatomische Gesellschaft, 2002
Although Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger was one of the most famous anatomists, his research ... more Although Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger was one of the most famous anatomists, his research work has been severely neglected in the recent historiographical literature on the German morphology. The goal of our study is to approach a general characterization of his research program. Our analysis reveals that Meckel introduced the Cuvierian empiricism in Germany, but he also considered the "Abstraktion" as a main component of the scientific knowledge. According to his epistemology on nascent organisms and transmutable species, both, variability and relatedness of the organic forms are important to the same degree. Meckel explicitly adopted the Jean-Baptiste de Lamarcks (1744-1829) evolutionary theories. Even though in Meckel's discourse about diversity the Cuvierian notion of "functional adaptation" was preserved, the main goal of his research program was to demonstrate empirically the "Allgemeinheit des Bildungstypus". For this purpose, he consi...
The Legacy of Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (1724–1774)
Neurosurgery, 2010
Few families have had an impact on medicine to equal that of the Meckel family. Johann Friedrich ... more Few families have had an impact on medicine to equal that of the Meckel family. Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder is of special interest to the neurosciences, given that his dissertation on the fifth cranial nerve included the first description of the arachnoid space investing the trigeminal nerve into the middle fossa. He was interested in neuroanatomy, along with botany and pathology of the inguinal hernia and the lymphatic system. His mentors included the eminent Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777) and August Buddaeus (1695-1753), and he extended his own influence on the work of Giovanni Morgagni and Alexander Monro II. He spent the latter part of his life in Berlin as professor of anatomy, botany, and obstetrics. His son, Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755-1803), was one of the founders of the current collection of anatomic specimens at the University of Halle and provided important groundwork for the practice of obstetrics. Meckel the Elder's grandson, Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781-1833), was a more prolific investigator and founder of the science of teratology. Many anatomic structures, such as Meckel's diverticulum, bear his name, and he vastly expanded the university's anatomic collection. August Albrecht Meckel (1789-1829), Meckel the Younger's brother, practiced legal medicine and investigated avian anatomy but died prematurely from tuberculosis. August's son, Johann Heinrich Meckel (1821-1856), took the instructor's position in pathologic anatomy at the University of Berlin that his great-grandfather had held at the Charité. After his untimely death from pulmonary disease, his position was filled by Rudolf Virchow. The history of this family is discussed in detail.
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2012
In the period from 1933 to 1945 the Anatomical Institute in Halle (Saale) received bodies of pers... more In the period from 1933 to 1945 the Anatomical Institute in Halle (Saale) received bodies of persons, among them politically persecuted women and men, who had been sentenced to death and executed. In this article, we attempt to answer two important questions: (1) What happened to the bodies of those executed; i.e. which anatomical "purposes" did they serve? (2) Were anatomical specimens from these bodies added to the institute's anatomical collection and are they still present today? If so, can they be traced back to the bodies of politically persecuted people? So far we have discovered that between 1933 and 1936 the institute received 30 bodies, among them the bodies of two politically motivated death sentences. From 1937 until the end of 1942, only a few bodies arrived at the institute, and from November 1942 until the end of the war in 1945 the institute documented the transfer of 64 bodies of executed people. The death sentences pronounced during those early years were usually based on severe criminal acts (e.g. murder). During the war, special courts sentenced people to death mostly because of theft, looting, etc. The bodies of those executed were used in anatomical education, anatomical research, and in preparations of anatomical specimens to be added to the anatomical collection. There are eight macroscopic preparations which can definitely be associated with the bodies of people executed during the Nazi regime. Trial by jury sentenced those people to the maximum penalty because of the severity of their criminal acts. Up to now we have found no evidence that specimens of the anatomical collection were removed from bodies of victims whose execution was politically motivated.
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2002
After the death of Johann Friedrich Meckel (1781-1833), Eduard d'Alton was appointed to be his su... more After the death of Johann Friedrich Meckel (1781-1833), Eduard d'Alton was appointed to be his successor. From 1834 to 1854, he was Professor of Anatomy and head of the "Anatomisches Theater" at the University of Halle. In the literature we can only find little details about him. The aim is to investigate his life and work. Before he came to Halle, he was first professor at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Then few years later he received the professorship of anatomy and physiology at the Friedrich-Wilhelm-University in Berlin. During his work as anatomist and physiologist in Halle he was rector twice, in 1845 and 1846. d'Alton worked very accurately and highly engaged. He supported the students' education very conscientiously but, since he was strict and exacting at the same time, he was not very popular. His extraordinary drawings of human and comparative anatomy earned him great recognition. In 1850, he published the "Handbuch der menschlichen Anatomic". d'Alton was mainly engaged in comparative anatomy, embryology and teratology and performed experimental embryological tests. In 1853, he published a catalogue of teratological preparations many of which can still be found in the Anatomical Collections in Halle.
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2002
The main goal of our investigations is to complete the genealogy of the famous Meckel dynasty. It... more The main goal of our investigations is to complete the genealogy of the famous Meckel dynasty. It is important to answer a lot of questions which have remained unanswered until now. During the investigations we were able to find the names of three children who died early and were dissected by their father Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755-1803). Besides, it was possible to extend distinctly our knowledge of the various genealogical lines of the Meckel family.
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2002
For 48 years of his life, Dr. Gustav Wilhelm M/inter was a diligent, skillful, reliable and indis... more For 48 years of his life, Dr. Gustav Wilhelm M/inter was a diligent, skillful, reliable and indispensable assistant of the Meckel Collections. He was a loyal worker under famous superiors as Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781-1833), Eduard d'Alton (1803-1854) and Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann (1801-1877). MiJnter's aim was to get scientific acknowledgement and the position of a "Prosector". But he reached none of it. However, A.W. Volkmann, who often criticized Mtinter's work, was obligated to say: "It is true, that a very large part of the Meckel Collections had been prepared and put up by him." Today the Anatomical Collections of Halle include a large number of very nice preparations produced by Mtinter.
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2002
In this report, we present first results of molecular cytogenetic analyses by comparative genomic... more In this report, we present first results of molecular cytogenetic analyses by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) on ancient DNA (aDNA) of two newborns preserved in the Meckel Collections. The goal of the analyses was the exclusion of a chromosomal imbalance accounting for the described malformations of the individuals. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is a well proven molecular cytogenetic approach for genome-wide analysis of chromosomal gains and losses in DNA samples without preparing chromosomes of the test sample. Ancient DNA was extracted from the remaining umbilical cord, labeled and investigated for chromosomal imbalances by CGH. Both genomic aDNA probes showed a normal copy number karyotype. Additional molecular genetic experiments on these aDNAs were tested to follow up the question whether different other genetic investigations are possible on further samples of the Meckel Collections.
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2002
Meckel the Younger concentrated his scientific researches on the systematic investigations of the... more Meckel the Younger concentrated his scientific researches on the systematic investigations of the human and animal malformations. He explored many samples which were part of his private anatomical collection. Today, the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology possesses a number of important teratological preparations which Meckel and his graduate students minutely investigated (e. g. the individuals to the Meckel, Klippel Feil and Hanhart syndrome). The goals of our studies are to identify the samples originating from the Meckel Collections, and to reinvestigate them with modern methods. Two objects (brainless malformation, Halle I, and neural tube defect, Halle II) were analysed by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). These results obtained are published in Toennies et al. (2002).
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2002
Korrespondenz an: L. GObbel pirical and epistemological writings on the embryology, comparative e... more Korrespondenz an: L. GObbel pirical and epistemological writings on the embryology, comparative embryology, teratology, pathology, systematics and comparative anatomy have largely contributed to the foundation of the biological research.
American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 2007
The Anatomical collection of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical School of the Un... more The Anatomical collection of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical School of the University of Halle, Germany, comprises more than 8,000 specimens. Around 600 of them show congenital anomalies. The collection of abnormal human and animal fetuses began as the private collection of Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (1724–1774), his son Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755–1803) and his grandson Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781–1833). Meckel the Younger founded the systematic science of developmental pathology. Radiographical techniques, computer tomographic (CT) methods, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) were used to diagnose abnormal human fetuses in the Meckel‐anatomical collections. Cystic hygroma colli was found in five of the human fetuses originally described by JF Meckel the Younger in 1826 and one of his students in 1819 [Hencke, 1819]. CGH analyses were used to test whether the observed cystic hygroma colli ...
Meckel on developmental pathology
American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 2006
Before Schleiden and Schwann, Darwin and Mendel there passed briefly a towering giant, Johann Fri... more Before Schleiden and Schwann, Darwin and Mendel there passed briefly a towering giant, Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781–1833), now glimpsed only fleetingly and obscurely through the mist of time and former controversies, who can nowadays easily and clearly be identified as the father of a “pre‐modern” developmental biology. At his beginning this prodigiously gifted physician‐scholar had, as one would say nowadays, an unfair advantage, his cradle having been rocked, as it were, by the preparators in his father's and grandfather's huge collection of normal and abnormal anatomical “specimens” in the home in which he was born and raised including his father's own skeleton (with two anatomical anomalies!). Initially reluctant to follow in the steps of his illustrious anatomist/physician grandfather and father, he nevertheless early demonstrated extraordinary gifts in anatomy and zootomy. Napoleon's conquest of his homeland notwithstanding, Meckel spent at least 2...
Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 2002
Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781-1833) belongs to the famous scientists of the 19 tu cen... more Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger (1781-1833) belongs to the famous scientists of the 19 tu century. His research work is enormous. Important termini e. g. diverticulum Meckelii, cartilago Meckelii, Meckel syndrome and Meckel Serres law reflect the scientific results obtained by Meckel. He worked as a professor of anatomy, pathology and zoology at the University of Halle, a town in the Central Germany. Meckel founded the scientific teratology. In the literature he is also refered to the German Cuvier. On 8 April 1802, J. E Meckel defended his doctoral thesis "De cordis conditionibus abnormibus". On occasion of the 200th anniversary of this event, we like to honor J. F. Meckel the famous German anatomist. Therefore, during the 97 th session of the Anatomische Gesellschaft at Halle, a satellite symposium "From Meckel to genom" was held.
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Papers by Rüdiger Schultka