Karl Holubar

Joseph Plenck (1735–1807): A forerunner of modern European dermatology

A short biography of Joseph (von) Plenck (1735-1807) is presented on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of his death on Aug. 24, 1982. Key data were hitherto unknown or unverified and appear photodocumented here for the first time. Plencks importance for the historical development of the systematization of skin diseases is stressed.

Soma Cornelius [Samuel] Beck (1872-1930)--a memorial.

This year (2002) is a Kaposi Centennial Year [1, 2]. It should be the proper point of time also to remind of the not so big “shots” – lest they be forgotten. Especially, if they originate from the same region of Southwestern Hungary, and share some other characteristics with the grandmaster. Once upon a time, Jadassohn’s encyclopaedic and monumental handbook (Handbuch der Hautund Geschlechtskrankheiten, Springer, Berlin 1927 and after), comprising of more than 40 volumes, was the Bible of the discipline [edited by Joseph Jadassohn, Breslau (Wrocl⁄aw), 1863–1936] [3]. One might compare it to “Der Grosse Pauly”, handbook for everything relating to classical antiquity, which comprises of even more than 70 volumes, or the Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, again having more than 40 oversized volumes. Post-World War II German dermatology, under the leadership of Alfred Marchionini (1899–1965) in Munich, attempted to follow up this handbook by a supplementary edition [4]. Quite an endeavour! Still some 20-odd volumes, but, alas, times had changed, English had become the language of dermatology, German was discredited beyond measure. One of the bitter ironies of history, – Jadassohn’s incomparable series is forgotten by today, both the original and the supplementary edition. A triumph of the evil of holocaust and anti-Semitism over the vision and work launched by a Jewish dermatologist. The author of these lines devoted ten years of his early time in the field, to compile four chapters for the supplementary edition. Two of these chapters were the first comprehensive monographs ever on the respective topics – they are never quoted anywhere. If it is not in English, it is overlooked. Admittedly though, the price of the volumes of the supplementary edition was so inexorably high, forbidding in fact, that it increased the paucity of issues available to students and doctors alike. Soma Cornelius [Samuel] Beck (Fig. 1), to whose memory this article is devoted, was head of dermatology at the University of Pécs (Fünfkirchen, Quinqueecclesie), one of the oldest universities in Central Europe, founded in 1367 (after Prague 1348, Krakau 1364, Vienna 1365). He wrote about the “Epitheliome,” as was the customary term at the time, in the original edition of the “Handbuch”. And I was to write on these topics forty years later. I never consulted an article more often than I looked into Beck’s during all these years. In 2003 it will be 70 years that the volume with Beck’s article appeared in print [5], and on 26 April 2003 it will be 73 years that he died. Consequently, he did not see in print what he elaborated. Anyway, it is my obligation and my desire to conjure up the memory of a scholar who devoted so many years to a subject, dear especially to Hungarian dermatology, to the discipline in general, and to myself (on account of the gallons of sweat that went into it). In elaborating some details here, I rely on information kindly provided by esteemed colleagues, namely, one of his successors in the chair in Pécs, Professor Imre Schneider [6], by Professor (Mme.) Sarolta Kárpáti, Budapest and by previous articles, especially by the late Professor Lajos Szodoray, Debrecen [7], whom I had the honor to know personally. Soma Cornelius Samuel Beck was born into a Jewish family in Készthely, Komitat Zala, on the shores of Lake Balaton, on 3 August 1872, circumcised 10 August, son of Wilhelm and Adelina Beck, née Bruck. Elementary school he attended in his native place, then turned to the Catholic gymnasium in Szombathely (Steinamanger), later to the Protestant gymnasium in Budapest. There he entered medical school and eventually graduated MD, in 1895. He worked in anatomy and physiology, later obtained a scholarship for travelling abroad in the years 1896/97, devoting

Skin and sensibility: The story of bullae on the human surface

This review presents a concise delineation of the historical roots of nomenclature and first reports of entities recognized today as immunoblistering dermatoses. The scope of the perspective of terminology is the time from Hippocrates BC to past mid-twentieth century AD, and pemphigus is the core of the matter. Researchers in this field may find these important historic facts interesting and useful as a quick reference.

Jean-Claude Bystryn 1938-2010. An obituary.

Jean-Claude Bystryn, M.D., passed away on 19 August, 2010. Dr. Bystryns research interests encompassed a large group of dermatologic conditions. He has earned a worldwide recognition for his innovative works on autoimmune blistering diseases, melanoma and alopecia areata. The most significant impact Dr. Bystryns research has made is on our understanding of the mechanisms of epidermal cell detachment (acantholysis) in pemphigus and development of adequate treatment. During the last decade, he chaired the Medical Advisory Board of the International Pemphigus and Pemphigoid Foundation. Dr. Bystryn was an innovative physician-scientist whose scientific contributions will be long recalled and admired both by patients and colleagues.

Carl Heitzmann's painting: early evidence of Kaposi's sarcoma

474 www.thelancet.com Vol 365 February 5, 2005 why two of these painters are named in the authorship line of the book. This gesture indicates how important Hebra believed their input was to the publication, and is an act not repeated in other similar works—eg, Kaposi’s. The identity of the painter is, however, not indicated in the figure legend or in Kaposi’s article. The author of the painting of sarcoma Kaposi was in fact Carl Heitzmann (1836–94; figure), the most diligent of the painterphysicians in Hebra’s atlas and one who was later recruited together with his younger brother Julius by Kaposi to work on his hand atlas. Carl Heitzmann was born on Oct 2, 1836, in Vinkovci, a small town in the eastern part of what is today known as Croatia. He studied in Budapest then Vienna, and graduated as a doctor in 1859. Heitzmann obtained his medical degree in surgery in 1861, and received his postgraduate medical education in Vienna, working with Franz Schuh (surgery), Ferdinand Hebra (dermatology), Salomon Stricker (experimental pathology), and Carl Rokitansky (pathology). In 1873 he became associate professor of pathological anatomy and a contender for Rokitansky’s chair. There is no record of any education in drawing or painting, but he was famous as an illustrator and a physician. His work as an Carl Heitzmann’s painting: early evidence of Kaposi’s sarcoma

Clinical Diagnostic Aids in Dermatology

ing diseases met opposition early on, e.g. by the famous and erudite Julius Rosenthal in the 1840s [2] , but, as a rule of thumb, this approach survived and is very useful for student and resident alike. What for? For making a firstsight preliminary categorization to be followed by more sophisticated techniques, biopsies, smears, scrapings and more. To refer to the calendar, Plenck died exactly 200 years ago, his spiritual follower Willan will have his 250th birthday later this year. Both deserve to be reminisced by dermatologists. Today we live in a jungle of acronyms, in part identical but with different meanings in different disciplines. No comment is offered in this direction; it is too arduous a task, if not entirely impossible, even in one single language. I leave it to subsequent generations to tackle this problem, potentially surpassed in the future only by the (il)legibility of outdated computer software. Let me switch to what I called auxiliary clinical phenomena, household eponyms in any residency programme and topics for brain training, for elementary clinical and other studies. The above 4 may serve as examples, all of European late 19th century vintage. The paper by Kalayciyan et al. in this issue is a nice example [1] . Crissey et al. [3] offer further personal data of the authors whose names are used as eponyms. The following points must be kept in mind: (1) the frequency of the phenomenon, (2) the spelling of the epSince Job in the bible we have dermatology in the Scriptures – after all, itch is, beyond doubt, a skin-related symptom – more so in the literature and in discussion. Since Mercuriale (1572) we speak of cutaneous diseases in European treatises, since Plenck and Willan (1776 and 1798–1817, respectively, as publication dates), we use a list of skin flowers (efflorescences) in Latin to describe what appears before our eyes on the human surface in disease. So we do, for two centuries by now, following Linnaeus and the botanists. For more than one century we have been familiar with auxiliary clinical phenomena usually referred to by eponyms, noting the author’s name, who is credited with a first description: Köbner, Auspitz, Darier, Nikolskij, for instance. Students who are ignorant of these, residents even more strictly so, will not escape failure in exams or meet criticism at least. Some comment is due, or more politely phrased, permission for it is requested from the gentle reader; recent papers invite to do so [1]. The sensibility to use ‘elementary lesions’, like macules, papules, pustules, urticae, squames etc., for classify-

Ethics of illustration and information, conflicts of interest

We recently published a volume of mid-19th century water colors largely by Hebra’s classmate, Carl von Rzehaczek, later a professor of surgery [2] , where no conflict of ethics of illustration surfaced. However, we did have such problems with the current volume on historical images of eye diseases, also largely by doctors [3] . Some of the spectacular water colors will be reproduced ( fig. 1 ); however, not all will be included in the volume. Especially one we withheld for ethical reasons. It concerned the print of the (conserved) head of a syphilitic prostitute who died in Vienna in 1796. We surmised that the decapitation, preservation and etching was made (a) to threaten the beholder and (b) because it was a woman, a syphilitic and a prostitute. A corollary to this example is the head of Luigi Luccheni, the assassin who killed Empress Elisabeth of Austria, in Geneva, in 1898. He died in a Swiss prison in the early years of the 20th century. His head was preserved and after almost a century the Swiss wanted to get rid of it and handed it over to Austria. There was some ballyhoo in the papers but, fortunately, there was no display and the only ethically acceptable solution was used; the head was buried.

Leopards, lions and wolves – a short visit to the zoo of dermatological diagnoses

Skin is a surface which is visible and since old has been an arena of adornment (e. g. tattoos, scars, painting), of punishment and of individuality, to recognize a person, a rank, a caste, a “race” (better “cline”) [1, 2], etc. For instance, the word for caste in Indian society and in the Sanskrit language, varnah, relates to the color of the skin and signifies caste, so to say, the lighter the hue, the “higher” the caste, i.e. the social stance. Classical occidental literature does not differ in this regard e.g. Sappho, stressing that she is not white (Ovidius let her say “candida si non sum”, Maximus of Tyros, describes her similarly, “míkra kaì mélaina”, small and dark, and Menandros, the Greek playwright asks about a sun-tanned person if he were a peasant. Poetry and proverb in Chinese and Japanese offer similar phrases [3]. COLOR is important, or better, absence of it at least in the Northern hemisphere. Négritude, up to our times was the beauty idol of equatorial latitudes and only later in the 20th century expanded north [4]. In a metaphorical sense, and this is referred to by the initial Biblical quotation, the appearance and permanence of skin signs is used to allude to the characteristics of a personality, a psychological position, a disease, a divine mark. Second to that, animals, real and mythical (“chimera”), are addressed over the centuries and visibility again is taken for identification before all other sensual cognizance, e.g. hearing (murmurs of the heart or feeble voice e.g. “cri-du-chat” syndrome), smell (goat-like stench), and before behavioral aspects come into play. If animals are referred to, their factual characteristics and/or the legendary features are taken into account in literature, medical and otherwise since the dawn of history. They also became idols, were given divine attributes, were turned into ritual victims in sacrifice, were included in medical jargon, e.g. “zebra” [5, 6], and, literally, “guinea pig”. Language in general, including many a professional terminology, has made use of this paradigm over the millennia. Again, the heading from the Old Testament is a very good example – in a holy text. Some “animals” not related directly to skin are neglected in the present context, e.g. the rabbit in lagophthalmus, the dog in dens caninus, the ox in cor bovinum, the horse in pes equino-varus, the turtle in turtle-neck, the latter being a term à la mode and not medical. Leopards, lions and wolves – a short visit to the zoo of dermatological diagnoses*

A historical interlock: Danube and Fuji‐San, early 19th to late 20th century

The face of the world changed quite a lot within the past two centuries. In this article, I looked around the relation between Austria and Japan from medical, political and cultural aspects and describe it briefly in a sketch style. Each sketch presents, at one time a scholar, another time a political or cultural situation, but finally focuses on dermatological relations between Austria and Japan.

Newsletter No. 5/2009

Program Committee Meeting and Board Visit for the 22nd World Congress of Dermatology To date, nearly 30 diff erent societies have sent in suggestions regarding the programming of the 22nd World Congress of Dermatology to the ILDS offi ce, as shown below. All these suggestions will be discussed during the program committee meeting which will be held on February 12–14 in Berlin. The fi nal confi rmation will be made on May 26–29 in Seoul during the Board Visit.