Theodor Kerckring

Theodor Kerckring (1639 or 1640- 2 November 1693) was a Dutch anatomist.

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Kerckring was born, probably in Hamburg, as the son of the Amsterdam merchant and VOC captain Dirck Kerckring and Margaretha Bas (daughter of Dirck Bas, a former mayor of Amsterdam)^[1]. At the early age of 8 he was a pupil at the Latin School in Amsterdam of Franciscus van den Enden (at the same time as the philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza), before studying medicine at Leiden University. Several sources reveal that he remained on good terms with Van den Enden, whose daughter Clara Maria he married in 1671. Although further details of his early life are sketchy, it is known that he spent much of his medical career prior to 1675 in Amsterdam. Afterwards he travelled throughout continental Europe, settling in Hamburg in 1678.

Kerckring is remembered for his Spicilegium anatomicum, which is an anatomical atlas of clinical observations, medical curiosities, autopsy discoveries along with general anatomical information. He is credited with describing Kerckring's ossicles, which is an occasional ossification centre in the occipital bone that appears around the 16th week of gestation. He also provided a comprehensive description of the folds of the mucous membrane of the small intestine. These anatomical folds go by several different names, including the valves of Kerckring, Kerckring's folds, plicae circulares and valvulae conniventes.

References

1. ^ Margaret Gullan-Whur, Jabic Veenbaas Spinoza: een leven volgens de rede, Lemniscaat Publishers 2000, p. 100

• Kerckring and the Spicilegium anatomicum