Hermann Sahli (May 23, 1856 – April 28, 1933) was a Swiss internist who was a native of Bern. In 1878 he earned his doctorate from the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...

, and subsequently became an assistant to

Ludwig Lichtheim Ludwig Lichtheim (7 December 1845 in Breslau – 13 January 1928) was a German physician of Jewish descent. Biography He was educated at the gymnasium in Breslau, and studied medicine at the universities of Berlin, Zurich, and Breslau, gr ...

(1845–1915) in Bern. Afterwards, he traveled to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, where he worked under

Julius Friedrich Cohnheim Julius Friedrich Cohnheim (20 July 1839 – 15 August 1884) was a German-Jewish pathologist. Biography Cohnheim was born at Demmin, Pomerania. He studied at the universities of Würzburg, Marburg, Greifswald, and Berlin, receiving his doctoral de ...

(1839–1884) and Carl Weigert (1845–1904). He returned to Bern as an assistant at Lichtheim's policlinic, and in 1888 became a professor of internal medicine. At Bern, he also served as director of the Inselspital (medical clinic). Sahli-Hämometer

Sahli was involved in almost all aspects of internal medicine, and made contributions in the fields of

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and hematology, being especially known for his work in

hemodynamics Hemodynamics or haemodynamics are the dynamics of blood flow. The circulatory system is controlled by homeostatic mechanisms of autoregulation, just as hydraulic circuits are controlled by control systems. The hemodynamic response continuously m ...

. He made improvements to the

sphygmomanometer A sphygmomanometer ( ), a blood pressure monitor, or blood pressure gauge, is a device used to measure blood pressure, composed of an inflatable cuff to collapse and then release the artery under the cuff in a controlled manner, and a mercury ...

, and introduced "Sahli's hemoglobinometer", an instrument used for

colorimetric Colorimetry is "the science and technology used to quantify and describe physically the human color perception". It is similar to spectrophotometry, but is distinguished by its interest in reducing spectra to the physical correlates of color ...

determination of the blood's

hemoglobin Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocyt ...

content. His name is also associated with the "Sahli pipette method" for performing

red blood cell Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

counts, as well as the "Hayem-Sahli

hemocytometer The hemocytometer (or haemocytometer) is a counting-chamber device originally designed and usually used for counting blood cells. The hemocytometer was invented by Louis-Charles Malassez and consists of a thick glass microscope slide with a ...

", which is a device used to find the quantity of

platelet Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby i ...

s in a specified volume of blood. This device is named in conjunction with French hematologist Georges Hayem (1841–1933). Sahli was the author of over 175 scientific articles, and in 1894 published an important book on clinical investigation methodologies called ''Lehrbuch der klinischen Untersuchungsmethoden''. His name is associated with " 2088 Sahlia", which is an asteroid that was discovered in 1976.

External Links

* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia''.
''Hermann Sahli''
at

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

References

# {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahli, Hermann Swiss hematologists 1856 births 1933 deaths University of Bern faculty University of Bern alumni People from Bern