Karl Reyer

Karl Reyer Karlovich (1846-1890), one of the foremost Russian surgeons of the 19th century, received his medical education at the University of Dorpat (1865-1870). While at the university, R. studied surgery under the guidance of Professor G. Adelman and E. Bergmann. After graduating from the university, he was an intern in Bergmann's clinic. In 1872, after defending his dissertation (on the pathology of cholera and its treatment by blood transfusion), he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, followed by the title of privat-docent, and from 1874 the position of a full-time docent in clinical surgery. During his university studies, he was repeatedly sent on scientific missions abroad by the university. He worked mainly in Germany with Volkmann. Having become interested in the newly introduced method of antiseptic treatment of wounds, he studied it with its author, J. Lister, in London, and then persistently implemented this method in both peacetime and wartime practice; during the Franco-Prussian War, he worked in the infirmaries of the German army. He participated in the Serbian War of 1876-78, and then in the Caucasus, he managed dressing stations. Upon arriving in St. Petersburg (1878), he was a consulting surgeon at the Nikolaevsky Military Hospital, a consultant at the Maximilianian Clinic, head of the surgical department of the St. Magdalene Hospital, and a surgical infirmary in Strelna. In a short time, he brought his surgical department at the Mariinsky Hospital to an unprecedented height. Numerous doctors from all over Russia flocked to him. He was a teacher of clinical surgery at the Women's Medical Courses. For his services in field surgery, he was honored at the International Congress of 1881 with the title of 'honorary member of the Committees on Medical Affairs'. In 1890, he was appointed professor of clinical surgery at Kyiv University, but died in the same year. Reyer enjoyed very great fame not only in Russia but also abroad. He made his name primarily by introducing the antiseptic method of wound treatment into field surgery, through his works on laryngeal surgery, and his research on joint diseases. He was the first to introduce in our country the method of Billroth, the application of an artificial larynx.