Eduard Caspar Jacob von Siebold (19 March 1801 – 27 October 1861) was a German professor of gynecology. He worked at

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

and

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

Life and career

Von Siebold was born 19 March 1801, the son of gynecologist

Adam Elias von Siebold Adam Elias von Siebold (5 March 1775, Würzburg – 12 June 1828, Berlin) was a German Gynecologist. Life He was the youngest son of Carl Caspar von Siebold (1736–1807). Siebold was professor of anatomy, surgery und midwifery of the Universi ...

, in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

, Germany. He became a medical doctor in 1826, docent in obstetrics in 1827 in Berlin, and professor in this field in 1829 in Marburg. From 1833 until his death in 1861, he was director of the clinic for gynecology and obstetrics at

, succeeding Caspar Julius Mende. Von Siebold represented a traditional approach in obstetrics and did not embrace the great medical development at the time. He travelled to

Wien en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1847, partly to reach consensus with the so-called modern Vienna School that emphasized active obstetrical intervention by doctors, partly to study the work of Johann Lucas Boër who represented a more conservative trend in obstetrics. There he met

Ignaz Semmelweis Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (; hu, Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers", he discovered that t ...

whose theories he could not accept at all. Inspired by the work of

James Young Simpson Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet, (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anesthetic, anaesthetic properties of chloroform ...

, Von Siebold introduced the use of

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be ...

as a

general anaesthetic General anaesthetics (or anesthetics, see spelling differences) are often defined as compounds that induce a loss of consciousness in humans or loss of righting reflex in animals. Clinical definitions are also extended to include an induced com ...

and was the first to carry out a

caesarian section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or ...

using this substance. Von Siebold died on 27 October 1861 in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

. He was succeeded by Jakob Heinrich Hermann Schwartz, who was a student of Gustav Adolf Michaelis and an assistant under

Carl Conrad Theodor Litzmann Carl Conrad Theodor Litzmann (7 October 1815 – 24 February 1890) was a German obstetrician and gynecologist born in Gadebusch, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He studied medicine in Halle, Würzburg and Berlin. In 1845 became an asso ...

at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

.Dissertations, Volume 31
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Bibliography

*''Versuch einer Geschichte der Geburtshülfe'' 1839, 1845

References

*This article is based on the German wiki page merged with info from the Swedish wiki page (both version 2008-09-04) and info from the Johann Lucas Boër page. * (Note: ''Link does not point to Siebold'')

External links

* *
Literaturliste im Online-Katalog
der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Geschichte der Universitäts-Frauenklinik Göttingen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siebold, Eduard Caspar Jacob von 1801 births 1861 deaths German gynaecologists German obstetricians Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Academic staff of the University of Marburg