Volcher Coiter (also spelled Coyter or Koyter; 1534 – 2 June 1576) was a Dutch
anatomist who established the study of comparative
osteology
Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...
and first described cerebrospinal
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...
.
Biography
Coiter was born in
Groningen
Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
. He studied in
Italy and
France and was a pupil of
Ulisse Aldrovandi,
Gabriele Falloppio,
Bartolomeo Eustachi and
Guillaume Rondelet. He became
city physician of
Nuremberg in 1569. He took part in the French Wars of Religion as field surgeon to Count Palatine
Johann Casimir
John Casimir, Count Palatine of Simmern (German: ''Johann Casimir von Pfalz-Simmern'') (7 March 1543 – Brockhaus Geschichte Second Edition) was a German prince and a younger son of Frederick III, Elector Palatine. A firm Calvinist, he was a lea ...
. He died in
Champagne during the German forces' return march.
His works included ''Externarum et Internarum Principalium Humani Corporis Partium Tabulae'' (1572)
and ''De Avium Sceletis et Praecipius Musculis'' (1575). His work included detailed anatomical studies of birds as well as a classification of the birds based on structure and habits. He produced an early
dichotomous classification key.
References
Further reading
*
Stresemann, Erwin (1975). ''Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present''. Harvard University Press. .
External links
*
1534 births
1576 deaths
Dutch anatomists
Physicians of the Habsburg Netherlands
Dutch ornithologists
Scientists from Groningen (city)
{{Netherlands-med-bio-stub