Johann Conrad Peyer (26 December 1653 – 29 February 1712) was a Swiss

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal 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 scien ...

who was a native of

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

Biography

He studied medicine in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

under Guichard Joseph Duverney (1648–1730), in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

under Raymond Vieussens (1635–1713) and received his medical degree in 1681 at

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. Later, he returned to Schaffhausen in order to practice medicine. Here, he performed research with

Johann Jakob Wepfer Johann Jakob Wepfer (December 23, 1620 – January 26, 1695) was a Swiss pathologist and pharmacologist who was a native of Schaffhausen. He studied medicine in Strasbourg, Basel and Padua, and in 1647 returned to Schaffhausen to practice med ...

(1620–1695), and Wepfer's son-in-law Johann Conrad Brunner (1653–1727). in 1677 Peyer published ''Exercitatio anatomico-medica de glandulis intestinorum earumque usu et affectionibus'', in which he describes the eponymous

Peyer's patches Peyer's patches or aggregated lymphoid nodules are organized lymphoid follicles, named after the 17th-century Swiss anatomist Johann Conrad Peyer. * Reprinted as: * Peyer referred to Peyer's patches as ''plexus'' or ''agmina glandularum'' (cl ...

. These anatomical structures are aggregated lymphatic nodules found in the lining of the

small intestine The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...

. He was also the author of an influential work on

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

titled ''Merycologia sive de Ruminantibus et Ruminatione Commentariae''.

References

The Galileo Project
Johann Conrad Peyer * 1653 births 1712 deaths People from Schaffhausen 17th-century Swiss physicians 18th-century Swiss physicians Swiss anatomists {{Switzerland-med-bio-stub