Carl Thiersch 1822–1895

Abstract

Carl Thiersch was born in Munich, Germany, to a very educated family. His father held the professorship of classics in the university and was President of the Academy of Science. Following his graduation from the gymnasium, the young Thiersch entered the study of medicine in his home university and became influenced by the professor of surgery, Stromeyer. Following study in Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, he received his doctorate in medicine in Munich upon presentation of a dissertation on materia medica.

He joined the Munich faculty and at the age of 32 (1853) achieved professorial status. Shortly thereafter he accepted a position as professor of surgery in Erlangen, and after 14 years, Leipzig. In addition to the usual duties of instructing students, performing surgery, and engaging in research, Thiersch designed what was then the most advanced teaching hospital. Like most of his contemporaries he was expected to be a general surgeon, but his work with children and his head and neck surgery were particularly well recognized. The work for which he was most famous was the preparation of thin skin grafts (“Thierschgrafts”), founded upon his earlier microscopic investigations of granulation tissue. His name is also associated with the field of colon and rectal surgery for his suggestion of the management of procidentia by means of the circumanal placement of a silver wire.

To identify the original source for the description of the Thiersch operation for rectal prolapse required considerable investigative efforts. Goligher, in his textbook, quotes Gabriel (Proc R Soc Med 1948;41:467) as the resource for crediting Thiersch. But despite the assistance of librarians and historians on both sides of the Atlantic, the original article could not be located. However, with the help of Dr. Regina Mahlke of the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz of Berlin, a close approximation of a direct reference to that work is identified. Jacob Goldmann gives full credit to Thiersch in this dissertation. The 1891 meeting in Halle to which Goldmann refers was not transcribed.

Thiersch was an early pioneer of Listerian methods. He was described as an accurate observer, a man with good, common sense, someone who exhibited a fine sense of humor with a penchant for shady jokes. He died in Leipzig on April 28, 1895.