Abraham Kuhn (January 28, 1838 – September 15, 1900) was an Alsatian otolarynologist born in

Bissersheim Bissersheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Bissersheim lies in the northw ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. He studied under Anton von Tröltsch (1829–1890) at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

, then continued his education at the École de Médecine in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. In 1870 he published ''Traité pratique des maladies de l'oreille'', a French translation of Tröltsch's ''Lehrbuch der Ohrenheilkunde''. During the Franco-Prussian War he served with the ''Croix-Rouge'' (

French Red Cross The French Red Cross (french: Croix-Rouge française), or the CRF, is the national Red Cross Society in France founded in 1864 and originally known as the ''Société française de secours aux blessés militaires'' (SSBM). Recognized as a public u ...

) on the battlefields of

Wissembourg Wissembourg (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Weisseburch'' ; German: ''Weißenburg'' ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Grand Est in northeastern France. It is situated on the li ...

and Wörth. Later on he became a lecturer (from 1873) at the renamed '' Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität'' in

Strassburg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eur ...

, where in 1881 he was appointed associate professor of

otolaryngology Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...

and director at the clinic of ear diseases. After his death he was succeeded at Strassburg by

Paul Manasse Paul Manasse (14 March 1866 in Naugard – 27 September 1927 in Würzburg) was a German physician, who specialized in the field of otology. He studied medicine at the universities of University of Tübingen, Tübingen, University of Berlin, Be ...

.Akademische Lehrstätten und Lehrer der Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie in Deutschland ...
edited by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde,Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie During his career, Kuhn was only one of a handful of professors in Germany who specialized in the field of otology. Much of his scientific research dealt with

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

of the ear, in particular the

inner ear The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the ...

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

. He also made significant contributions involving diagnosis and treatment of ear tumors.

Selected writings

* ''Traité pratique des maladies de l'oreille'' (Paris 1870), translation with D.M.Levi of Anton Friedrich von Tröltsch's ''Lehrbuch der Ohrenheilkunde''. * ''Histologie des Häutigen Labyrinthes der Knochenfische'' (Leipzig 1878). * ''Neubildungen des Ohres und Vergleichende Anatomie des Ohres'' in: Hermann Schwartze's "Handbuch für Ohrenheilkunde" (Leipzig 1893).

References

Archives of Otology
(biography) * "This article incorporates translated text from an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Abraham 1838 births 1900 deaths People from Bad Dürkheim (district) 19th-century German Jews University of Strasbourg faculty People from the Rhine Province German otolaryngologists