Johann Andreas Eisenbarth (March 27, 1663 – November 11, 1727) was a German

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

who was a native of

Oberviechtach Oberviechtach () is a town in the district of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated southeast of Weiden in der Oberpfalz, and northeast of Schwandorf. It is famous for being the birthplace of Johann Andreas Eisenbarth. The name com ...

, Bavaria. Eisenbarth was an oculist and

barber-surgeon The barber surgeon, one of the most common European medical practitioners of the Middle Ages, was generally charged with caring for soldiers during and after battle. In this era, surgery was seldom conducted by physicians, but instead by barber ...

who specialized in treatment of cataracts, calculus surgery, and the treatment of

bone fracture A bone fracture (abbreviated FRX or Fx, Fx, or #) is a medical condition in which there is a partial or complete break in the continuity of any bone in the body. In more severe cases, the bone may be broken into several fragments, known as a '' ...

s. His grandfather and father were also surgeons, and much of Eisenbarth's medical knowledge was learned from his brother-in-law. Although he was referred to as "Dr. Eisenbarth", he had no formal medical credentials, nor was he officially awarded the title "Doctor". Despite this, he was considered a skilled surgeon, and was bestowed with privileges by members of German royalty. Eisenbarth was a "travelling surgeon", and his journeys took him throughout most of Germany. He usually travelled with a large entourage of up to 120 persons. This group included entertainers, harlequins and musicians performing in a carnival-like atmosphere while Eisenbarth plied his trade. The spectacle drew large crowds, and the loud music and revelry helped drown out the cries of pain from his patients. Eisenbarth designed his own medical instruments, including a cataract needle and a

polypus ''Polypus'' is a fungal genus of uncertain familial placement in the order Russulales. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species ''Polypus dispansus'', originally described by Curtis Gates Lloyd in 1912 as a species of ''Polyporus''. '' ...

hook. From his home in Magdeburg, the ''Zum goldenen Apfel'', he manufactured and marketed his own medicine, selling his homemade remedies on a large scale. Around 1800, a student drinking song called "Ich bin der Doktor Eisenbarth" (My Name is Doctor Eisenbarth) unfairly mocking the memory of the doctor ("I can make the blind walk and the lame see") became popular in Germany, and more recently, author Eike Pies published a book titled ''Ich bin der Doktor Eisenbarth''. In his home town of Oberviechtach, there is the "Eisenbarth Fountain", commemorating his work. Also, a

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

in Oberviechtach sells a product called "Eisenbarth elixir", and a 1977 German postage stamp features his visage.

Song

Today, Johann Andreas Eisenbarth is still widely known because about 70 years after his death a Göttingen student, of whom only the beer name Perceo ("dwarf" or "Kleinwüchsiger") is known, wrote a drinking song, the first line of which reads: "Ich bin der Doktor Eisenbarth" ("I am the Doctor Eisenbarth"). As a student song, text and melody made their way through the student associations of the German universities in numerous variations from about 1800; in 1815 a variant was printed for the first time in a commercial book.Eike Pies: ''Eisenbarth. Das Ende einer Legende.'' 2004, S. 329. This song, in turn, inspired various authors to write novels to this day (Agnes Harder, 1897;

Josef Winckler Josef Winckler (7 July 1881, Bentlage, Rheine – 29 January 1966, Bensberg, Bergisch Gladbach) was a German writer, best known for his 1923 comic novel '' The Mad Bomberg'', which was turned into films in 1932 and 1957. One of his other popular no ...

, 1928;

Otto Weddigen Otto Eduard Weddigen (15 September 1882 – 18 March 1915) was an Imperial German Navy U-boat commander during World War I. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest honour, for sinking four British warships. Biography and car ...

, 1909; Fritz Nölle, 1940;

Hanns Kneifel Hanns Kneifel (11 July 1936, Gliwice, Gleiwitz – 7 March 2012, Munich) was a German science fiction writer. He is best known for writing 98 Perry Rhodan episodes. References External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kneifel, Hanns 1936 births 2 ...

, 2002), plays (for example Otto Falckenberg, 1908), operas (Alfred Böckmann and Pavel Haas) and Nico Dostal's operetta Doktor Eisenbart. The school opera Der Arzt auf dem Marktplatz by Hanna and Siegfried Stolte, written in the 1950s in the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, was also based on motifs from the life of Doctor Eisenbarth.

Literature

* Arthur Kopp: ''Eisenbart im Leben und im Liede''. Berlin 190
Internet Archive
* Arthur Kopp: ''Neues über den Doktor Eisenbart''. In: Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde 7,1 (1903–1904), S. 217–22
Internet Archive

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenbarth, Johann Andreas 1663 births 1727 deaths People from Schwandorf (district) German surgeons