Friedrich Leopold Goltz (14 August 1834 – 5 May 1902) was a German

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemica ...

and nephew of the writer

Bogumil Goltz Bogumil Goltz (20 March 180112 November 1870) was a German humorist and satirist known mostly for his work ''Buch der Kindheit'' ("Book of Childhood"). Biography He was born in Warsaw. After attending the classical schools of Marienwerder and K ...

. Born in Posen (Poznań),

Grand Duchy of Posen The Grand Duchy of Posen (german: Großherzogtum Posen; pl, Wielkie Księstwo Poznańskie) was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, created from territories annexed by Prussia after the Partitions of Poland, and formally established following the ...

, he studied medicine at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

, and following two years of surgical training, served as a

prosector A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and p ...

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...

in Königsberg. In 1870 he succeeded A.W. Volkmann as professor of physiology at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

, followed by a professorship at the University of Straßburg (from 1872).Virtual Laboratory
of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. (biography) He is known for his experiments in

neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated ...

, and is credited as being the first scientist to perform a

hemispherectomy Hemispherectomy is a neurosurgical procedure in which a cerebral hemisphere (half of the upper brain, or cerebrum) is removed or disconnected that is used to treat a variety of refractory or drug-resistant seizure disorders (epilepsy). Refractory ...

on a dog. In 1870 he introduced the "hydrostatic concept" involving the

semicircular canal In mathematics (and more specifically geometry), a semicircle is a one-dimensional locus of points that forms half of a circle. The full arc of a semicircle always measures 180° (equivalently, radians, or a half-turn). It has only one line o ...

s of the

inner ear The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in th ...

and their ability to transmit sensations of position, and therefore providing assistance in

equilibrioception The sense of balance or equilibrioception is the perception of balance and spatial orientation. It helps prevent humans and nonhuman animals from falling over when standing or moving. Equilibrioception is the result of a number of sensory syste ...

. Goltz proposed that the canals dealt mainly with the equilibrium of the head, and that the movements of the body were regulated by the more or less conscious awareness an individual has of the position of his head in space.
Text-book of physiology By Edward Albert Sharpey-Schäfer Goltz held a unitary view of brain function, which he demonstrated in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at the

International Medical Congress The International Medical Congress (french: Congrès International de Médecine) was a series of international scientific conferences on medicine that took place, periodically, from 1867 until 1913. The idea of such a congress came in 1865, dur ...

of 1881. Here he showed that a dog with sections of its

cerebral cortex The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. The cerebral cortex mostly consists of the six-layered neocortex, with just 10% consisting o ...

removed, could still remain functional. Conversely, Scottish

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

David Ferrier Sir David Ferrier FRS (13 January 1843 – 19 March 1928) was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist. Ferrier conducted experiments on the brains of animals such as monkeys and in 1881 became the first scientist to be prosecuted ...

held the belief of localization of cerebral functions, which he demonstrated at the same conference. Ferrier presented

macaque The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principall ...

monkeys with particular

paralysis Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 5 ...

following specific surgeries of the

motor cortex The motor cortex is the region of the cerebral cortex believed to be involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary movements. The motor cortex is an area of the frontal lobe located in the posterior precentral gyrus immediately ...

. Ferrier's demonstration of localized functionality impressed the medical community, and was seen as a major impetus in the development of neurological surgery. He died in

Straßburg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

(Strasbourg).

Published works

He published several articles on the function of the heart and on the venous tone in '' Virchows Archiv'' of

Pathological Anatomy Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or Anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination o ...

as well as in Pflügers Archiv of Physiology. Among his principal writings are the following: * ''Beiträge zur Lehre von den Funktionen des Nervensystems des Frosches'',

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

: August Hirschwald, 1869 - Contributions to knowledge on functions of the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

s. * ''Über die Verrichtungen des Grosshirns. Gesammelte Abhandlungen'',

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

1881 - On actions of the

cerebrum The cerebrum, telencephalon or endbrain is the largest part of the brain containing the cerebral cortex (of the two cerebral hemispheres), as well as several subcortical structures, including the hippocampus, basal ganglia, and olfactory bulb. ...

. * ''Wider die Humanaster. Rechtfertigung eines Vivisektors''. Strasbourg, 1883 - Justification for

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

References

External links

*
Biography

Goltz-Ferrier Debates on Cerebral Localization {{DEFAULTSORT:Goltz, Friedrich 1834 births 1902 deaths Physicians from Poznań German physiologists People from the Grand Duchy of Posen University of Königsberg alumni Academic staff of the University of Königsberg Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg