Johann Friedrich Meckel, the Elder

Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (July 31, 1724 - September 18, 1774) was a German anatomist who was born in Wetzlar. He often has "the Elder" appended to his name to avoid confusion with his famous grandson Johann Friedrich Meckel (1781-1833), who was also an anatomist and often has "the Younger" included with his name. The elder Meckel's son, Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1756-1803) and another grandson, August Albrecht Meckel (1790-1829) were also anatomists.

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Meckel earned his medical doctorate from the University of Göttingen in 1748, where in his thesis Tractatus anatomico physiologicus de quinto pare nervorum cerebri he documents his discovery of the submandibular ganglion. He moved to Berlin where he first worked as Prosector and also taught classes on midwifery. In 1751 he became professor of anatomy, botany and obstetrics.

Meckel has three anatomical eponyms associated with him:

Meckel's space or Meckel's cave: A cavity in the dura mater over the petrous portion of the temporal bone that covers the trigeminal ganglion.
Meckel's ganglion: better known as the sphenopalatine ganglion, which is a small parasympathetic ganglion in the upper part of the sphenomaxillary fissure giving off nerves to the eyes, nose, and palate.
Meckel's ligament: a portion of the anterior ligament that fastens the malleus to the wall of the tympanic membrane.

During his career, Meckel began an anatomical collection that was continued by his son and grandson. The collection includes mummified parts of the body, organs, skeletons and skulls, zoological as well as human anatomy. The collection also contains teratolgical specimens, including a complete situs inversus from the 18th century. Today the Meckelsche Sammlungen (Meckel Collection) has approximately 7000 exhibits and is housed at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Halle.

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