Bartholomaus Metlinger

Bartholomäus Metlinger (born in Augsburg - died c.1491) was a German physician of the late Middle Ages.

Metlinger graduated in 1470 at the University of Bologna. He was city physician in Nördlingen from 1476 to 1483, when he took the same position in Augsburg, probably succeeding his late father Peter Metlinger.

His most famous work Kinderbüchlein ("Little Book on Children") was published on 7 December 1473, being retitled on later editions as Ein Regiment der jungen Kinder (A Guide on Young Children). It was the first German-language work on Pediatrics. In it, Metlinger deals with the care of infants and small children up to the age of seven. The book describes several childhood diseases and their treatment, besides providing educational advices. If also contains one of the first known written definitions of a pacifier.