Maximilian Stoll (October 12, 1742 – May 25, 1787) was an Austrian physician who was a native of

Erzingen Klettgau (High Alemannic: ''Chleggau'') is a municipality in the district of Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the centre of the ''Klettgau'' historical region stretching across the Swiss border into the cantons of Aargau, Schaffha ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. Stoll originally trained as a

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, with his interests later turning to medicine, and in 1776 attained a professorship at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. Soon afterwards, he succeeded

Anton de Haen Anton de Haen (The Hague December 8, 1704 – Vienna September 5, 1776) was a Dutch physician who worked in Vienna as a professor at the University of Vienna and was the director of its medical department. He became a very influential physician in ...

(1704–1776) at the Vienna clinic. In Vienna he worked closely with

Leopold Auenbrugger Josef Leopold Auenbrugger or Avenbrugger (19 November 1722 – 17 May 1809), also known as Leopold von Auenbrugger, was an Austrian physician who invented percussion as a diagnostic technique. On the strength of this discovery, he is consid ...

(1722–1809) and Anton von Störck (1731–1803). One of Stoll's better known students was

phrenologist Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...

Franz Joseph Gall Franz Josef Gall (; 9 March 175822 August 1828) was a German neuroanatomist, physiologist, and pioneer in the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain. Claimed as the founder of the pseudoscience of phrenology, Gall was an earl ...

(1758–1828). Stoll is remembered for his

epidemiological Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

and systematic approach to medicine. He stressed the importance of knowing the clinical details of a patient's history, and installed a practice of keeping daily progress records of patients. He also developed a system of classifying diseases that was similar to the

nosology Nosology () is the branch of medical science that deals with the classification of diseases. Fully classifying a medical condition requires knowing its cause (and that there is only one cause), the effects it has on the body, the symptoms that ...

Thomas Sydenham Thomas Sydenham (10 September 1624 – 29 December 1689) was an English physician. He was the author of ''Observationes Medicae'' which became a standard textbook of medicine for two centuries so that he became known as 'The English Hippocrate ...

(1624–1689). Stoll was one of the first practitioners of Auenbrugger's

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

methodology. In 1777 he is credited with providing the first description of

gall bladder cancer Gallbladder cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer, with an incidence of fewer than 2 cases per 100,000 people per year in the United States. It is particularly common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern Ind ...

. Stoll was a popular lecturer, and is considered an important figure in the "Old Vienna School" of medicine, a group that included Auenbrugger, Störck,

Gerard van Swieten Gerard van Swieten (7 May 1700 – 18 June 1772) was a Dutch physician who from 1745 was the personal physician of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and transformed the Austrian health service and medical university education. He was the fa ...

(1700–1772), et al.

Works

* ''Maximiliani Stoll Dissertatio de materia medica practica : opus postumum'' . ugsburg178
Digital edition
by the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (german: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of th ...

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.''
Clinical teaching, past and present
by H. Beukers and John Michael Henderson Moll 1742 births 1787 deaths People from Zollernalbkreis 18th-century Austrian physicians {{Austria-med-bio-stub