[History of embryology in Strasbourg]

Abstract

The Alsatian medieval chronicles report numerous examples of monstrous births; with the development of printing, fly sheets appear in order to relate exceptional phenomena. In 1652, a chair of anatomy was created; embryology and teratology, at that time solely morphological sciences, depended on anatomy. In 1670, the first anatomical theatre was built, and as early as 1672, a meticulous dissection, exceptional at that time, was performed on a thoracodymus double monster born in Strasbourg. In 1919, when the Faculty of Medicine was reorganized after Alsace was restored to France, for the first time in France, a specific chair and an institute of embryology and teratology were created. This is the beginning of the famous experimental embryology. In 1945, a chair of zoology and experimental embryology was created at the Faculty of Sciences. F. Keibel (1861-1929), P. Ancel (1873-1961), P. Vintemberger (1891-1983), J. Benoit (1896-1982), and E. Wolff, were among the famous embryologists who worked in Strasbourg.