Gustav Albert Schwalbe, M.D. (1 August 1844 – 23 April 1916) was a German

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

from

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

. He was educated at the universities of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Zurich, and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

(

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

1866), he became in 1870

privat-docent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

, in 1871

privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

and

prosector A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and p ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

in Baden, in 1872

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, and then professor of anatomy successively at the universities of

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

(1873),

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

(1881), and

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 ...

(1883) — at that time a German university,

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

having been annexed to Germany. There he died. Known for his anthropological research of primitive man, Schwalbe considered the

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

to be a direct ancestor of modern humans. Much to the dismay of the Dutch paleontologist

Eugène Dubois Marie Eugène François Thomas Dubois (; 28 January 1858 – 16 December 1940) was a Dutch paleoanthropologist and geologist. He earned worldwide fame for his discovery of ''Pithecanthropus erectus'' (later redesignated ''Homo erectus''), or "Jav ...

(1858–1940) who had discovered

Java Man Java Man (''Homo erectus erectus'', formerly also ''Anthropopithecus erectus'', ''Pithecanthropus erectus'') is an early human fossil discovered in 1891 and 1892 on the island of Java (Dutch East Indies, now part of Indonesia). Estimated to be ...

, Schwalbe published in 1899 the influential treatise ''Studien über Pithecantropus Erectus'' (Study of Pithecantropus Erectus). In 1869 Schwalbe injected Berlin-blue dye into the

subarachnoid space In anatomy, the meninges (, ''singular:'' meninx ( or ), ) are the three membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord. In mammals, the meninges are the dura mater, the arachnoid mater, and the pia mater. Cerebrospinal fluid is located in th ...

of a dog, and was the first to demonstrate that the major pathways to absorb

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the bra ...

were lymphatic pathways. The subarachnoid or

subdural space The subdural space (or subdural cavity) is a potential space that can be opened by the separation of the arachnoid mater from the dura mater as the result of trauma, pathologic process, or the absence of cerebrospinal fluid as seen in a cadaver. ...

s between the internal and external sheaths of the

optic nerve In neuroanatomy, the optic nerve, also known as the second cranial nerve, cranial nerve II, or simply CN II, is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual system, visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve i ...

are now referred to as "Schwalbe's spaces"; also called the intervaginal spaces of optic nerve (''spatia intervaginalia nervi optici''). His name is lent to several other anatomical structures, including "Schwalbe's nucleus" or the

vestibular nucleus The vestibular nuclei (VN) are the cranial nuclei for the vestibular nerve located in the brainstem. In Terminologia Anatomica they are grouped in both the pons and the medulla in the brainstem. Structure Path The fibers of the vestibular nerve ...

; "Schwalbe's ring", which is a circular ridge consisting of

collagen Collagen () is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix found in the body's various connective tissues. As the main component of connective tissue, it is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up from 25% to 35% of the whole ...

ous fibers surrounding the outer margin of

Descemet's membrane Descemet's membrane ( or the Descemet membrane) is the basement membrane that lies between the corneal proper substance, also called stroma, and the endothelial layer of the cornea. It is composed of different kinds of collagen (Type IV and VIII) ...

; and "

Schwalbe's line Schwalbe's line is the anatomical line found on the interior surface of the eye's cornea, and delineates the outer limit of the corneal endothelium layer. Specifically, it represents the termination of Descemet's membrane. In many cases it can be ...

", an anatomical line located on the posterior surface of the eye's

cornea The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and lens, the cornea refracts light, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical power ...

. He was the first to describe Paneth cells in the Archiv für mikroskopische Anatomie in 1872; he described them 16 years before

Joseph Paneth Joseph Paneth (6 October 1857 – 4 January 1890) was an Austrian physiologist born in Vienna. Paneth is remembered for his description of " Paneth cells", which are cells that provide host defense against microbes in the mucosa of the smal ...

. Paneth even acknowledged Schwalbe and used one of his drawings in his article that was published in the same journal.

Literary works

* an editor of the ''Jahresberichte für Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte''. * an editor of the ''Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie''. * He edited also the second edition of Hoffmann's ''Lehrbuch der Anatomie des Menschen'' (

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

, 1877–81). and is the author of: * ''Lehrbuch der Neurologie'' (Textbook of neurology) ib. 1881 * ''Ueber die Kaliberverhältnisse der Nervenfasern,'' (About caliber conditions of

nerve fiber An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action po ...

s) Leipzig, 1882 * ''Lehrbuch der Anatomie der Sinnesorgane'' (Textbook on the anatomy of

sensory organ A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...

s),

, 1886 * ''Studien über Pithecantropus Erectus'' (Study of Pithecantropus Erectus), Leipzig, 1899 * ''Der Neander Schädel'' (The

skull) ib. 1901 * ''Vorgeschichte der Menschen'' (Prehistory of humans) ib. 1903.

References

*
Mondofacto Dictionary (definition of eponyms)

Cerebrospinal Fluid Research
Integration of the subarachnoid space and lymphatics

External links

* "Gustav Schwalbe." In ''Online Biographical Dictionary of the History of Paleoanthropology''. Edited by Matthew R. Goodrum. (2016) available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/12w1bxrUYqTXYgRf1ko6lbH7HnTTu115w/view * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwalbe, Gustav 1844 births 1916 deaths German anthropologists German anatomists 19th-century German Jews People from Quedlinburg People from the Province of Saxony Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Bonn alumni Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg faculty University of Freiburg faculty Leipzig University faculty University of Jena faculty University of Königsberg faculty University of Strasbourg faculty Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala