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Marta Fischer, Regine Pfrepper (Leipzig):
In Commemoration of the Russian Ophthalmologist Leonid Georgievich Bellyarminov (1859–1930) to his 150th Birthday

The biography of the ophthalmologist Bellyarminov is typical for a Russian professor in the second half of the 19th century. Bellyarminov received his medical degree in Russia. During a study stay of several years, he gained further training, particularly in Germany.
After Bellyarminov completed the Military Academy of Medicine (MMA) in 1883 in St. Peterburg, he stayed for three more years in preparation for a professorship. Following his doctorate, Bellyarminov went abroad to further improve his knowledge and skills in ophthalmology. In the years from 1886 to 1888 he received further qualifications from Hans Virchow, Wilhelm Waldeyer, Karl Schweigger, Julius Hirschberg and Hermann von Helmholtz in Berlin, Theodor Leber in Goettingen and Hubert Sattler in Erlangen, also in an array of ophthalmic clinics.
In 1888, Bellyarminov returned to St. Petersburg, where he became a private lecturer to the chair in ophthalmology at the MMA. In the year of 1893, at the age of 34, Bellyarminov was appointed professor to the chair in ophthalmology, which he led until 1924. Bellyarminov is the founder of the School of Ophthalmology in St. Petersburg. Besides many opticians and private lecturers, eleven professors for ophthalmology have graduated from this school. His special interest was devoted to the investigations of the pupil movement and the internal eye pressure. Several ophthalmological terms are named after him. He was the initiator of the so-called “flying” eye departments and military hospitals in order to fight blindness in Russia.
Bellyarminov is considered an example for excellence regarding scientific relations with Western European countries. Among others, he published 15 articles in different German ophthalmological and medical periodicals. He was a member of the editorial board at the „Archiv für Augenheilkunde“ magazine, which later merged into the „Albrecht von Graefes Archiv für Ophthalmologie“. Furthermore, Bellyarminov participated in international congresses and kept personal contacts to his former mentors Julius Hirschberg and Hans Virchow from Germany.

Marta Fischer, Dr. rer. nat. Regine Pfrepper, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig c/o Universität Leipzig, Karl-Sudhoff-Institut, Käthe-Kollwitz-Str. 82, 04109 Leipzig, Deutschland

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Balder P. Gloor (Zürich):
Gonin, Vogt, Galezowski – what for Galezowski was put off?

Vogt assigned Xavier Galezowski (1832–1907) a special position among the many who since v. Graefe proposed unsuccessful methods to cure retinal detachment! He conferred him priority over Gonin, claiming that Galezowsky had treated retinal detachment by draining the subretinal fluid and ignipuncture focused to the retina 15 years before Gonin. Gonin though considered Vogts opinion as faulty interpretation of the articles written by Galezowski 1902 and 1903. What had Galezowsky written really? Who was Galezowsky? How reads the narrative of the incriminated time period written by French experts such as M. A. Dollfuss and J.P. Baillart. Was Galezowski put off by Vogt and if so what for? – This history has fore- and backgrounds, the proposal to award Jules Gonin with the Nobel Prize included. Meticulous reading of the publications of Galezowsky cited Vogt, accurate chronology of the events and newer data are used to enlighten this history.

Prof. Dr. Balder P. Gloor, Hinterbergstr. 91, 8044 Zürich, Schweiz

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Udo Hennighausen (Heide):
The Fate of Persecuted Ophthalmologists during the Time of Nationalsocialism (1933–1945), Especially of those of Jewish Faith or Heritage; the Actual Results of a Research Project in Progress

Backround, Purpose: In his book „Augenheilkunde im Nationalsozialismus“ (“Ophthalmology during the time of Nationalsocialism”), issued in 2007, Rohrbach reports also of the fate of ophthalmologists of Jewish faith or heritage during that time.
He restricts himself in his book mainly on the occurences in Germany within the borders of 1937 and the members’ register of the Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft (German Ophthalmological Society). Purpose of this study is, to perform as extensive as possible investigation of the theme, beyond Rohrbach’s field of research.
Methods: It is intended to study the available literature concerning this theme, especially by getting in contact to institutes for history of medicine and ophthalmologic historians in Germany and other countries, involved in this time, and to selected archives, for example the Library of the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
Results: When announcing this presentation the author had found informations about 57 ophthalmologists of Jewish faith or heritage during the time of Nationalsocialism, Rohrbach reports approximate 40 histories of fate. Till now the author’s resarch work was mainly directed to the territory of Germany, there are still only a few but successful contacts to other countries and these contacts are rising.
Conclusions: Regarding the actual results the international dimension ot this theme becomes evident. The author would like to invite other ophthalmologic historians to join this work, also with the aim of a presentation at the World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) in Berlin in 2010.

Dr. med. Udo Hennighausen, Hamburger Straße 8, 25746 Heide, Deutschland

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Aloys Henning (Berlin):
From Court and Itinerant Privileged Oculists to Licensed Ones in Brandenburg and Saxony 1498–1810

Since 2006 researches on the family von Sütphen of medieval high nobility in Geldern closed a gap in ophthalmologic history of Brandenburg and Saxony, between Georg Bartisch (1535–1607) and Johannn Andreas Eisenbarth (1668–1727). As Protestants exiled from Zutphen, in four generations von Sütphen nine of them have become oculists and educated these, altogether at least twelve within 90 years. Their imperial privileges elucidate the importance of one of Bartisch’s predecessors, Heinrich Vogtherr senior (1490–1556) as court oculist of king Ferdinand I (1521–1564, 1558 emperor) in Vienna. The itinerant surgeon and oculist Eisenbarth marks the era of changing over from barber surgeons’ guild rules to licensing them by regulations of state, as by the Medical Edict of Brandenburg in 1685. The actual researches’ results prove charlatanic oculists of the 18th century like Joseph Hillmer and John Taylor as ‘delayed’ itinerants with respect to new country wide medical regulations. Edited by the sovereign these licensings replaced former barber surgeons’ master degrees – in Berlin since 1718 after completing anatomic and surgical courses at the Collegium Medico-chirugicum. Prussia knew countrywide privileges for oculists further until the foundation of the Berlin university in 1810. In 1986 the 18th century’s Berlin history of ophthalmology began to be published on 16 documented oculists, three college lecturers and their oldest predecessor from 1498 in addition: the elector’s Johann II (Cicero) court oculist Meister (magister) Herman. Now eye doctors’ profiles and education may be described through three centuries before the 19th one. For the second half of the 18th century the latter is to light up clearer by Saxon archives.

Dr. med. Aloys Henning, Spandauer Straße 105 K, 13591 Berlin, Deutschland

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Jutta Herde (Halle/S.)
Heiden’s son Heinrich Schiess (1833 – 1914), von Graefe’s Student, Founder of the First Ophthalmic Clinic at Basel

Heinrich Schiess graduated in 1856, when great reforms changed ophthalmology. At the time, many ophthalmic clinics have been opened across Germany and Europe, in 1862 the first one in Switzerland by Friedrich Horner.
Heinrich Schiess was born in Heiden on January 3, 1833 by Ann Margareth Bernet as the eldest of pastor’s Johann Heinrich Schiess 14 children. His father’s changing parishes let him finish grammar school at Grabs and high school in St. Gallen. He started to study at the University of Basel in 1852 together with his younger brother Traugott. Schiess studied medicine and his brother took art. In 1854 he was awarded a prize of 100 Louisdor, which enabled him to continue his studies at the famous Wurzburg university, where R. Virchow, H. Müller and R. Koelliker lectured. In 1856 returned to Basel, he passed the State examination and conferred the doctor’s degree. Next, he travelled to Munich to meet Rothmund, and to Vienna to see Jäger and Stellwag v. Carion. While working from 1857 to 1861 as physician in Grabs, he became increasingly interested in ophthalmology, partially because of high grade myopia in the family. He went to Berlin for a practical training with v. Graefe lasting four months. Later Schiess and his wife visited A.v. Graefe in the Freihof at Heiden. In 1859 Schiess married Rosina Margarethe Gemuseus, a daughter of a wealthy businessman from Basel. In 1861 he returned to Basel and dedicated himself entirely to ophthalmology. In 1861 he opened a small practice in a new house on Missionsstrasse 28, added in 1864 a small ward on adjacent property at Mittlere Strasse 45. So he founded the first eye clinic in Basel. He got his habilitation in 1863 and started regular lecturing on ophthalmology and histology at his clinic, which was promoted to a policlinic in 1865. In 1867 he moved his clinic to a renovated house on Allschwilerstrasse and in 1876 he was appointed professor. He tried very hard and managed to get financial support from the government and university authorities as well as private citizens. He then sold the Mittlere Strasse property and could afford to build a new university clinic in 1877. He was the head of the clinic until 1896. His first resignation was rejected by the Faculty. He had to care for 10 children, when his wife has died in 1881. During 35 years of his professional life, he published 60 papers on therapy, pathology and clinical observation. In spite of his poor sight in his last years he continued mountain climbing and art collecting .He was almost blind and taken care of by his daughter Rosy until his death in 1914 in Grabs.

Prof. Dr. med. Jutta Herde, A. Schweitzer-Straße 16, 06114 Halle/Saale, Deutschland

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Danny Hirsch-Kaufmann Jokl (New York):
Zur Entdeckung der Glaskörperzellen durch Albrecht von Graefe

Albrecht von Graefe, the father of modern Ophthalmology, is known world-wide for his description and treatment of glaucoma. Less known is the fact that he first described vitreous cells to be indicative of an underlying retinal tear or detachment.
In the 20th century, the same description of such cells relating to retinal detachment was published without the realization that what appeared to be a "new" finding had been, most probably described in the German literature 150 years ago, as was the case in this instance, by Albrecht von Graefe.

Prof. Dr. med. Danny Hirsch-Kauffmann Jokl, 1 Stone Place, Bronxville, NY 10708, USA

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Gerhard Holland (Kiel):
Hugo Magnus (1842-1907)

In 2007 I reported on the ophthalmologist, medical historian and writer Hugo Magnus, concerning his work on colourperception and his correspondence with the British statesman W. E. Gladstone. The aim of this work is to summarize and honor his complete work. Hugo Magnus was born 1842 in Neumarkt/Schlesien. After he had graduated from the “Königlich Friedrich Gymnasium” in Breslau he studied medicine at Breslau University and became medical doctor in 1867. He received his ophthalmological education at the eyeclinic in Breslau, where Middeldorf and Förster have been his teachers. He passed his habilitation for ophthalmology in 1873, became professor extraordinarius in 1883 and Geheimer Medizinalrat in 1906. Besides his work at the university he led a private clinic for ophthalmology. In addition he was medical examiner in the board of directors of the royal railway in Breslau and in the old-age and disability insurance for Schlesien. Magnus was a productive author of great variety. He has written about 130 publications, among them numerous monographs and longer treatises. Besides current topics of ophthalmology many publications dealt with colour vision, blindness and questions of medical examinations. Of particular significance are his studies concerning medical cultural history and especially those dealing with history of ophthalmology such as “The history of cataract”, “The anatomy of the eye of the Greeks and Romans” and his most extensive work “The ophthalmology of the Ancients” published in 1906, two years after Hirschberg’s “History of ophthalmology in antiquity”. In cooperation with other recognized colleagues he was editor of “The ophthalmological tablets for academical and self-education” with 25 at that time well known tablets between 1892 and 1907. In addition together with Neuberger and Sudhoff he was editor of “Treatises for medical history”. Few months after his death in 1907 his last extensive work “The development of medicine in its mainstreams” was published by his wife and the medical historian Pagel. Thanks to this treatise we have a compilation of all literary publications of Hugo Magnus, without which it would hardly be possible to appreciate his complete work now more than 100 years after his death. In 1907 Uthoff says in an obituary written in a chronicle of the university of Breslau: “His scientific monument he has built by himself and it will be continued in future”. Has Uthoff been right?

Prof. Dr. med. Gerhard Holland, Esmarchstraße 51, 24105 Kiel, Deutschland

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Manfred Jähne (Schneeberg):
The Ore Mountain’s Poacher Karl Stülpner (1762–1841) and his own Cataract Operation

Karl Heinrich Stülpner was a well-known and legendary person in the Saxon Ore Mountain. He was an Ore Mountain’s popular man as a poacher and he is comparable with a cheeky hunter and a protector of the miserables like Robin Hood in England. Stülpner lived in a time with revolutionary changes: Revolution in France with the wars of Napoleon, later the wars of independence. Social injustice ruled in Saxony, first electorate, then kingdom since 1806. The industrialization began. Stülpner was born as the 8th child in a family of a day-labourer in Scharfenstein near Zschopau in 1762. He was a Electoral Saxon musketeer from 1780 and from 1785 he fled permanently, he deserted numerous times and changed his dug-out often between Saxony and Bohemia. He was a well-aimed sharpshooter for venison and he earned his living by supplying the rich and high military men. Since 1828 he had “a big bad luck for blindness by cataract”. Chroniclers described, that “Stülpner has underwent a cataract operation by the oculist and judge Seyfarth in Mittweida in 1831, according to that he saw on his left eye again”. Two pictures with cataract glasses decorate the book with the biography of Stülpner. He died in total pauperisation and exhaustion at his birth place in 1841. The life of Christian Gotthold Seyfferth (1772-1831), medicinae practicus and recorder in Mittweida, is described by archive papers and a chronicle. The sponsor of the cataract procedure, which costed 25 thaler coins, is well known. It is my opinion, that the oculist Seyfferth operated by the method of the extractio cataractae, described later by Christian Georg Theodor Ruete (1810–1876), first ordinarius for ophthalmology in Leipzig 1852, in his textbook “Ophthalmology” in the era before A. von Graefe.

MedR PD Dr. med. habil. Manfred Jähne, Seminarstraße 22e, 08289 Schneeberg, Deutschland

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Gerhard Keerl (Düsseldorf):
The Foundation of the “Club Jules Gonin” Fifty Years ago

At the very beginning there was the Xenonphotocoagulator. After Professor Gerd Meyer Schwickerath had been confronted with retinal damages caused by the solar eclipse of 1946, he had the idea to produce retinal scars arteficially. The first clinical approved photocoagulator, constructed by the Firm Zeiß-Oberkochen, could be demonstrated in 1957. At first it was planned to treat macular holes, to seal retinal breakes and degenerations and to block off smaller retinal detachments. In consequence M-S, now at the University of Bonn, executed instructing courses in this field.
By help of the Eyehospital of Lausanne, Meyer – Schwickerath was enabled to organise the “First Colloqium of Photokoagulation” with 62 international participants from September 14th to 17th 1959 in Lausanne. The meeting run in an unique personal atmosphere by the Swiss hosts Professor Streiff and especially Dr. René Dufour. During the meeting the idea arised to found a new Society concerning the field of Retinopathology.
So at the very end, the name of the Colloquium became changed and the new society was baptised after the famous genius loci as “1st Meeting of the Club Jules Gonin”.
Although the Xenoncoagulator has become superceeded by other kinds of lasers, for which it was the pioneer, the “Club Jules Gonin” has become in accordance to scientific progress the outstanding association of “vitreo-retino-choroidal pathology and surgery”.

Dr. med. Gerhard Keerl, Droste-Hülshoff-Str. 2, 40474 Düsseldorf

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Guido Kluxen (Wermelskirchen):
First Observations towards the Discovery of Vitamin A Deficiency Disorders

Albrecht von Graefe is involved in first observations towards the discovery of Vitamin A deficiency disorders of our days. Celsus, the most famous Roman author on medicine, sometimes called “the Latin Hippocrates”, is credited as the source of the first description of a dry inflammation of the eyes called by the Greeks Xerophthalmia. Knowledge of the efficacy of liver for the treatment of night blindness persisted through medieval times in Europe. However, no association was made between xerosis of the eyes and night blindness at that time. These observations followed by Hubbenet and Bitôt.

Prof. Dr. med. Guido Kluxen, Brückenweg 1, 42929 Wermelskirchen, Deutschland

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Peter Kober (Schwelm):
The Medical Care of Eye Injuries by the German Wehrmacht during World War II 1939 – 1945

The medical care of eye injuries has surely always played a more or less important role in general war surgery. However the possibilities of really effective care were still limited until the end of the 19th Century. Yet, the number of war related injuries was also less than in the wars of the 20th Century, due to changes in weapon techniques.
A review of the literature reveals that there exist very comprehensive and detailed reports about the medical Services at the front and the care of the injured in the military hospitals in the rear.
Yet, a systematic account of the medical Services, and the role of Ophthalmology therein, of the German Wehrmacht during World War II is lacking. By contrast and interestingly, accounts of severat volumes of the Prussian – German medical Services during the war of 1870/71 and the German medical Services during World War I are available. Therefore, an account of the above thematic can do no more than depict a number of aspects and personalities which we will look at in the historic context of the development of a scientifically established war surgery.

Dr. med. Peter Kober, Zamenhof-Weg 4, 58332 Schwelm, Deutschland

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Frank Krogmann und Ralf Vollmuth (Thüngersheim/Würzburg):
The Military Surgeon and Ophthalmologist Johann Adam Schmidt (1759 – 1809)

The lecture gives a review to the life and work of the military surgeon and ophthalmologist Johann Adam Schmidt who was born in Aub/Lower Franconia on the 12th of October 1759. He had got his surgical education in Würzburg and had worked as an “Unterchirurgus” in the War of the Bavarian succession. Later on he completed his education in Vienna where he, by joining different work places, had been promoted to professor at the medical-surgical Josephs-Academy and became a leading figure of the Austrian military medical service. Also as an ophthalmologist Johann Adam Schmidt obtained high credit for his practical activity and his academic work. Johann Adam Schmidt died on the 19th of February 1809, and so in the year 2009 we can remember his 250th birthday and his 200th day of death. He left a multiplicity of publications and got not at least publicity as the doctor of Beethoven, who dedicated the trio for piano, clarinet or violin and violoncello (Es-major) Opus 38 to him.

Frank Krogmann, Kirchgasse 6, 97291 Thüngersheim, Deutschland
PD Dr. med. dent. Ralf Vollmuth, Inst. für Gesch. der Medizin der Univ. Würzburg, Oberer Neubergweg 10a, 97074 Würzburg, Deutschland

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Gisela Kuntzsch-Kullin (Braunschweig):
Spectacles in the Days of Edgar Allan Poe and Spectacles today.
Spectacles in the Course of Time

The American writer Edgar Allen Poe, whose 200th birthday we are celebrating this year, wrote the essay “The Spectacles”. I want to withhold the point of this eccentric story in this abstract in order to keep up the suspense on my lecture. I only want to give you some hint on the subject. The central character is a good looking young man whose only defect is “the poor conditions of his eyes”. Out of vanity he refuses to use eyeglasses. What happens to him due to his behaviour is macabre but revocable. Henceforth he was never seen without eyeglasses again. How far the evolution of spectacles had developed in the 19th century?
In my lecture I'll show you the history of spectacles by samples and words beginning with the so called Beryl Cristal, the riveted spectacles, the ridgid bridge spectacles, scissor glasses, monocle, pince nez, lorgnette, up to the temple spectacles of the present time. Special spectacles, genteel refinements and “trade marks” of celebrities will be also mentioned.
The exhibits shown in the “spectacles gallery” are from museum collections and from my own collection. Finally the cultural-historical aspect of the acceptance of spectacles will be examined more in detail. Literature shows us examples of objection, dependency, and love for eyeglasses, doubtless the oldest optical instrument of humanity.

Dr. med. Gisela Kuntzsch-Kullin, Wilhelmitorwall 11, 38118 Braunschweig, Deutschland

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Jens Martin Rohrbach (Tübingen):
100 Years University Eye Clinic Tübingen

When Gustav Schleich (1851–1928) took over the chair for ophthalmology in Tübingen in 1895 he soon realized that the present eye clinic which had been used by his predecessor Albrecht Eduard Nagel (1833–1895) since 1875 with its 40 beds did not fulfil the needs of time any longer. This was due to the enormous progress in ophthalmology in the last quarter of the 19th century and the introduction of the health insurance in 1883 so that more and more people gained access to ophthalmological health care. Thus, Schleich started planning a new eye clinic together with the architect Albert Beger from Stuttgart. After the financial resources had been granted in July 1905 the works commenced in April 1906. On January 1rst 1909 the clinic started running as the “Royal Wuerttemberg Eye Hospital Tübingen”. The calculated costs (585.000 Reichsmark) were exceeded by almost 20%. When erecting the building, some principles which had been used earlier in other University Eye Clinics in the “Deutsches Reich” were taken into consideration like the orientation of the longitudinal axis in east-west-direction and the separation of in- and outpatient care, education, research, and supporting facilities by horizontal and vertical arrangement of the building. At the beginning, the clinic had beds for 110 patients and a staff consisting of 32 persons.
The clinic was erected in the modern style. It is nowadays classified as a monument. Since its opening, the interior has been repeatedly modernized while the exterior remained almost unchanged except for an extension at the west front in the late 1920ies. The scientific work of the clinic during the last decades has influenced ophthalmology not only in Germany but also internationally. The celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the University Eye Hospital Tübingen in the year 2009 do not solely serve a grateful review. In addition to that, they are intended to draw attention to the necessity of a new eye clinic in the nearer future.

Prof. Dr. med. Jens Martin Rohrbach, Department für Augenheilkunde der Universität, Schleichstr. 6–12, 72076 Tübingen, Deutschland

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Gabriela Schmidt-Wyklicky (Wien):
The Relationship of Graefe’s Disciple Louis de Wecker (1832–1906) to the Vienna School of Ophthalmology and to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

As a native of Frankfurt Ludwig Wecker had studied medicine at the Universities of Würzburg, Berlin, Vienna and Paris. His most important teachers in ophthalmology were Albrecht von Graefe (1828–1870) in Berlin as well as Ferdinand von Arlt (1812–1887), Friedrich Jaeger von Jaxtthal (1784–1871) and his son Eduard Jaeger von Jaxxthal (1818–1884). Having come to Vienna in 1855, Wecker spent 15 months at the private eye clinic of Jaeger. Wecker kept this time in grateful remembrance and later on wrote a warm-hearted obituary for Jaeger, the father and the son. In Paris Wecker was mainly educated by the leading ophthalmologists Julius Sichel (1802–1868) and Louis-Auguste Desmarres (1810–1882). Soon Wecker established a highly frequented private eye clinic, at which he developed an enormous frequency of ocular surgery. A great amount of ophthalmologic instruments were constructed or modified by Wecker, who gained considerable professional esteem. Nevertheless, Julius Hirschberg (1843–1925), another prominent disciple of Graefe, pointed out Wecker´s mania of innovation and his interest in business. Weckers text-book of ophthalmology, which came out in two volumes in 1863/66 was dedicated to his master Graefe and did not only influence the development of ophthalmology in France. Wecker applied for naturalization in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which was conferred to him in 1870. In that same year Wecker and Eduard Jaeger von Jaxtthal published a French translation of Jaegers epochal ophthalmoscopic atlas of diseases of the ocular fundus. After Wecker had presented this work to the Austrian Court, he was ennobled. Living permanently in Paris, Louis de Wecker, according to Hirschberg, became a citizen of France in 1884. Furthermore, it has to be mentioned, that in 1878 Ernst Fuchs (1851–1930) visited the eye clinics of Paris. Wecker was absent at that time, but they had scientific contact later on.

Univ.-Doz. Dr. med. univ. Gabriela Schmidt-Wyklicky, Institut für Geschichte der Medizin der Medizinischen Universität Wien, Währingerstraße 25, 1090 Wien, Österreich

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Markus O. Schreier (Solothurn):
On the Good Gaze and Evil Eye

A small group of 13 patients attending an ophthalmological practice who were all immigrants to Switzerland from Afghanistan, Southern Italy, Greece, Haiti, Mexico and Turkey were asked about their experiences with the evil eye. Oracles, healing rituals and protective measures were described. The healing rituals belong to an spiritual-religious level with elements of the Catholic, Greek-orthodox or Islamic creed. The emitting and receiving abilities of the eye and its impacts on the environment are discussed. In a second part of this paper, the author tries to put the good gaze and the evil eye in a wider context.

Markus O. Schreier, Zuchwiler Strasse 41, 4500 Solothurn, Schweiz

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Doris Sonderegger – Marthy (Walenstadt):
The Headache-Curing Cavity in the St. George Chapel at Berschis (Canton St. Gall, Switzerland)

The St. George Chapel at Berschis with the hole in the rear of its altar is the oldest church in the canton of St. Gall, Switzerland. This chapel is the only two-aisled church north of the Alps with only one apsis, with Romanesque vaults. The first written mention of a headache-curing cavity in the rear of the altar dates from the 17th century. Pious people suffering from a headache used to make a pilgrimage to this chapel hoping to get some relief of their pain.
More church altars with headache-curing cavities are to be found in Switzerland and neighbouring France: St. Jost Chapel at Ennetbürgen (Canton Nidwald), St. Placidus Chapel, Disentis (Canton Grison) and at Saint-Dizier-l’Evêque (France) near Porrentruy (Canton Jura).

Doris Sonderegger – Marthy, PF 120, 8880 Walenstadt, Schweiz

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Gregor Wollensak (Berlin):
Johann Georg Waibel – Mayor of Dornbirn and Ophthalmologist

Johann Georg Waibel Johann Georg Waibel was born in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg) on the 28th of August 1828 as the eldest son of the municipal cashier Josef Andreas Waibel. After his education in the state high schools in Feldkirch and Salzburg he joined Tyrolean academicians in the battle at Ponte Caffaro in South Tyrol. From 1849 to 1850 he studied medicine at the University of Munich, from 1850 to 1852 at the Humboldt-University in Berlin, which he liked very much, so that later on he was often called by the nickname the “Berliner.” From 1852 to 1856 he continued his studies at the University of Vienna and finally received his medical and surgical doctorate. In 1860 he opened a private practice in Höchst near the lake of Constance, then in Tschagguns in Montafon and finally in 1863 in his home town Dornbirn. Beside his speciality ophthalmology Dr. Waibel also was a general practician und for example performed herniotomies and autopsies for the legal courts. During this time he founded the Dornbirn’s gymnastic club and the “Verein der Ärzte von Vorarlberg”. Politically he was engaged with the liberals and elected mayor of Dornbirn on the 16th of February 1869. Due to increasing time constraints he confined his medical activities to ophthalmology. As the mayor he earned merits with the introduction of a printed municipal newspaper, the construction of modern school buildings, a new post office building and new roads, the foundation of a school for embroidery and a savings-bank. From 1870 to 1908 he also was a member of the “Vorarlberger Landtag” and from 1878 to 1897 a member of the Austrian “Reichsrat”. On the 29th of March 1883 he married his future wife Aurelia. She died 20 years later in 1903. After her death his niece Sophie helped him out. Dr. Waibel was in close contact with the author Franz Michael Felder from Schoppernau and Franz Xaver Moosmann in Schnepfau, the editor of the „Bregenzerwälder Blatt”. He died on the 22nd of October 1908 due to apoplexy after having been the mayor of Dornbirn for almost 40 years.

PD Dr. med. Gregor Wollensak, Wildentensteig 4, 14195 Berlin, Deutschland

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