Saxtorph

Saxtorph Matvey (Matthias Saxtorph, 1740-1800), the leading obstetrician of the 18th century, a Dane. S. initially intended to devote himself to anatomy, but in 1762 his future teacher Berger opened the first maternity institution in Denmark in Copenhagen and attracted S. to work in this institution. After 5 years of service, S. received a 3-year foreign assignment, worked in Vienna, Strasbourg and Paris, and returned to his homeland as a fully formed scientist. His dissertation on the different courses of labor depending on the different insertion of the head into the pelvis (Copenhagen, 1771) laid the first stones in the future doctrine of the mechanism of the act of labor. In 1774, Berger had to leave Copenhagen for political reasons, and S. took his place. He significantly improved the teaching of obstetrics, attracting students from all of Europe to him; in Copenhagen he significantly expanded and deepened obstetric care. His scientific activity left a trace not only in obstetrics but also in anatomy. After S.'s death, one of his students published a complete collection of his works in German (Matthias Saxtorph's gesammelte Schriften geburtshilflichen, praktischen und physiologischen Inhalts, Copenhagen, 1803). The son and grandson of Saxtorph were also outstanding scientists: the son was an obstetrician, the grandson was an anatomist.