- A dictionary of medical eponyms

Job Janszoon van Meekeren

Born  1611
Died  1666

Related eponyms

Amsterdam surgeon, born 1611, Amsterdam; died December 6, 1666.

Biography of Job Janszoon van Meekeren

Job Janszoon van Meekeren was a pupil of Nicolaas Tulp (1593-1674). He became a surgeon in 1635 and mainly practiced medicine in his native town. He was both city surgeon, surgeon to the admiralty and the hospital and achieved a great reputation as an operator. Nicolaas Tulp and Albrecht von Haller (1798-1777) called him “chirurgis industrius" and “celebris et candidus chirurgus”, respectively.

Under the name “milde Wassersucht” he described a cyst in the spleen. In amputations of limbs he applied artificial bloodlessness, and devised an instrument for the punctation of the hypopyon. Meekeren was also first to record a bone graft. In Chapter 1 og his book he states that he read a report of it in a letter received by the Reverend Engebert Sloot of Slooterdijk from John Kraanwinkel, a missionary in Russia, where the operation had been performed. It consisted of the transplantation of a piece of bone from a dog's skull into a cranial defect in a soldier. Although healing was perfect, the Church ordered the removal of the graft.

Bibliography

  • Heel- en geneeskonstige aanmerkingen.
    Posthumous publication; Amsterdam, C. Commelijn, 1668; Rotterdam, 1730; Haag, 1773.
    German translation, Nürnburg, 1675
    Latin by Abrah. Blasius, Amsterdam, 1682.
    The original was reprinted by Alphen a.d. Rijn, Stafleu, 1979.

What is an eponym?

An eponym is a word derived from the name of a person, whether real or fictional. A medical eponym is thus any word related to medicine, whose name is derived from a person.

What is Whonamedit?

Whonamedit.com is a biographical dictionary of medical eponyms. It is our ambition to present a complete survey of all medical phenomena named for a person, with a biography of that person.

Disclaimer:

Whonamedit? does not give medical advice.
This survey of medical eponyms and the persons behind them is meant as a general interest site only. No information found here must under any circumstances be used for medical purposes, diagnostically, therapeutically or otherwise. If you, or anybody close to you, is affected, or believe to be affected, by any condition mentioned here: see a doctor.