Born 1602 Großenhain, Saxony Alma mater Medical Faculty of the University of Base (Switzerland) Known for Wrote the first book about the medicinal uses of the European elderberry tree (Sambucus nigra), which still is regarded as the standard text today. Died 10 September 1629, Oschatz, Germany Books The Anatomy of the Elder, Anatomy of the Elder | ||
Martin Blochwich (c. 1602 - 10 September 1629) was a German physician. He wrote the first book, The Anatomy of the Elder, about the medicinal uses of the European elderberry tree (Sambucus nigra), which still is regarded as the standard text for the practice.
Contents
School and studies
After his elementary school years in Großenhain, Blochwich was accepted by the Fürstenschule Schulpforte in Naumburg (Saale), where he obtained his university entrance qualification in 1622. He studied medicine at the University Leipzig until 1626. On 4 July 1626, the Medical Faculty of the University of Base (Switzerland) awarded him a doctorate degree.
Life and work
After his studies, Blochwich worked temporary in Großenhain, where he may have also researched his comprehensive work The Anatomy of the Elder. There are references to patients from Großenhain, which indicate this. In 1628 he settled in Oschatz.
Early death
On 10 September 1629, Martin Blochwich died at the age of 26-27 in Oschatz. The cause of his death is unknown.
The Anatomy of the Elder
In this book, which has become a standard reference work, Blochwich described the cultivated plant in three units that occupied a total of 298 pages.
Distribution of the book
• 1631, two years after Blochwich’s death, a man named Johannes Blochwich, who may have been his brother, published the Anatomia Sambuci, written in Latin, in Leipzig. • 1642 the book was translated into German by Daniel Beckher, a professor of medicine in Königsberg, who mentioned Blochwich's work in his own book Nützliche kleine Haus-Apotheke. After 1642, Blochwich's book was reprinted in 1650, 1665 and 1685. It is the only translation into German. • 1650 the Latin version of Anatomia Sambuci appeared in England. It was translated into English by Christopher Irvine in 1651 and published in English in 1655, 1670, 1677 on the recommendation of the British Royal Society. • 2010 the Anatomia Sambuci was reprinted. • 2010 an updated English version of Anatomia Sambuci appeared.
Memory honoured
On the occasion of the opening of the Elder Show Garden in Feldbach (Styria/Austria) a new elder variety that had been known previously Klon B2 was renamed Blochwitz on 23 May 2013.
Different spellings of the name
Blochwich's name has been spelt in several ways, which may have been due to the path taken by his book from Königsberg in East Prussia in 1642 to London in 1650 and the related translations. The name has been written as Blockwich, Blockwitz, Blochwich and Blochwitz.