The 100-year old collection of wax moulages at the Department of Dermatology of the University of Bonn

Abstract

The tradition of wax models in Dermatology, also named moulages, is about 200 years old. Dermatology departments all over the world created wax moulages collections to teach students and doctors as well as to document research. In 1910 Erich Hoffmann, who discovered Spirochaeta pallida together with Fritz Schaudinn, became head of the department of dermatology in Bonn. He founded one of the largest moulage collections in Germany. This almost unknown collection consists of more than 1,000 delicate and well conserved wax models. Two excellent wax moulage makers, Auguste Kaltschmidt and Hermann Hessling, produced most of these masterpieces between 1913 and 1937. Until recently, A. Kaltschmidt has only been known to have worked as moulage maker in Rostock, while the biographic details of both her and H. Hessling remained obscure. This paper aims (i) to outline Erich Hoffmann's role for and his contribution to the moulage collection and (ii) to give the first biographic details about the two outstanding dermatologic moulage makers of the collection of Bonn.