!!!Wiener Medizinische Schule

Vienna School of Medicine: A new epoch in health legislation and the 
teaching of medicine in the Austrian hereditary lands began with the 
arrival of Gerard van  Swieten in Vienna in 1745. Vienna possessed a 
medical hospital as early as 1754; the heads of the hospital A. de  
Haen and M.  Stoll were pioneers in the field of medicine. L. v.  
Auenbrugger invented the percussion method; another assistant of 
Haens, the Swabian A.  Stoerck, who succeeded van Swieten as 
protomedicus, is said to have been a pioneer in experimental 
pharmacology. Under Emperor Joseph II the Vienna General Hospital was 
opened, which was to become the home of Viennese medicine. The head of 
the hospital, J. P.  Frank introduced hygiene and forensic 
medicine as subjects of instruction. J. L.  Boer was a 
conservative obstetrician at the General Hospital, who believed in 
letting nature take its course and dispensed with surgical 
interventions whenever possible. In 1812, G. J.  Beer founded the 
world's first chair of ophthalmology. C. v.  Rokitansky taught 
how to establish the nature of a disease from tissue changes. J.  
Skoda fundamentally improved Auenbrugger's percussion method and the 
auscultation method (sounding a patient with a stethoscope), which had 
been known since 1818. Skoda's assistant in the "rash department", 
F. v.  Hebra, identified pathological changes in the anatomy of 
the patients themselves and thus founded scientific dermatology in 
Vienna. I. Semmelweis, the "saviour of mothers", found compelling 
evidence that an infection caused by external factors was the cause of 
childbed fever and perhaps even the cause of every suppuration. 
Decades after his death the new science of bacteriology proved that 
his teachings had been right. T.  Meynert was the most important 
"psychiatrist" of the time; he thought that mental illnesses were 
caused by alterations of brain tissue. L.  Tuerck and J. N.  
Czermak gained worldwide reputation for the application of the 
laryngoscope. T.  Billroth was called to Vienna in 1867. J. Lister's 
antisepsis and the recently invented ether anaestesia improved the 
conditions in his field. Billroth successfully carried out the first 
laryngectomy (1874) and the first gastric resection (1881). L.  
Schroetter was the first to make the bifurcation of the trachea into 
the primary bronchi accessible. The Eyeground endoscopy was developed 
by E. von Jaeger (1818-1884), who used the ophthalmoscope 
invented by H. Helmholtz (1821-1894) based on the ideas of E. W.  
Bruecke. F. v.  Arlt, C. v. Stellwag-Carion (1823-1904) and 
later C.  Koller continued the great tradition of Viennese 
ophthalmologists.

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Surgery and its related fields had already made important steps 
forward when H.  Nothnagel made great strides in internal medicine. S. 
Basch (1837-1905) and G.  Gaertner built the first sphygomanometers. 
The gynaecologists F.  Schauta and E.  Wertheim developed 
revolutionary methods for gynaecological operations. The school of 
Billroth spread all across Europe, and his assistants were appointed 
to many professorships all over the continent. E.  Fuchs achieved a 
worldwide reputation with his textbook of ophthalmology, which was 
translated into many languages. J.  Wagner-Jauregg  was awarded the 
Nobel Prize in 1927 for the development of a method to fight diseases 
with fever (malaria therapy in cases of paralytic dementia). K.  
Landsteiner discovered the blood groups in Vienna and was awarded the 
Nobel Prize in 1930. R.  Bárány also received the Nobel 
Prize for his research on the vestibular organ in 1914. A.  Lorenz is 
considered the founder of modern orthopaedics due to the development 
of a non-surgical repositioning of the congenital dislocation of the 
hip-joint and other research. K. F.  Wenckebach was one of the 
greatest cardiologists in Europe and the head of the department of 
medicine during and after World War I; he was one of the pioneers of 
electrocardiography. G.  Holzknecht applied X rays, which had 
previously been used primarily in surgical diagnostics, to internal 
medicine as well. L.  Freund was the first to use X-rays as a 
therapeutic measure against skin diseases. The paediatrician 
C. v.  Pirquet developed a new serological examination method for 
tuberculosis and discovered the allergies, a new group of illnesses 
caused by protein alterations.

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In the aftermath of World War I, Vienna lost much of its importance as 
a world renowned centre of medical research, but owing to the 
achievements of the Vienna Medical School it was able to maintain a 
high level of medical care in the years of economic crisis during the 
First Republic, in World War II and in the period of reconstruction. 
At the same time medical schools of international reputation developed 
at the universities of Graz and Innsbruck. T.  Antoine, L.  Arzt, L.  
Boehler, W.  Denk, E.  Deutsch, K.  Fellinger, V.  Frankl, H.  Hoff 
and L.  Schoenbauer are only a few of the many personalities who 
proved influential on the Vienna school of medicine in the 
20%%sup th/% century.

!Literature
T. Puschmann, Die Medicin in Wien waehrend der letzten 100 
Jahre, 1884; M. Neuburger, Die Entwicklung der Medizin in Oesterreich, 
1918; E. Lesky, Die Wiener Medizinische Schule im 
19. Jahrhundert, %%sup 2/%1978.


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