Abstract
Objectives: the name of Jan Evangelista Purkyně (Purkinje in German), born in Bohemia in 1787 and died in Prague in 1869, is mainly associated with discoveries in histology and specialist fields of Medicine like embriology, histological techniques, ophthalmology, cardiology and neurophysiology. This short article presents a brief account of his life, commemorates his achievements in biology and medicine but also in in the politics and literature of his Country (he was elected to the Diet of Bohemia but also he composed poems and important translations from German, French and Italian languages into Czech) and examines in depth his contribution to Dentistry. Materials and Methods: Purkyně’s major contributions to Dentistry, which focused on embryology and dental histology, endodontics and periodontology, are traced to two dissertations in Latin which were discussed by his pupils (Meyer Fraenkel and Isaac Raschkow), at Breslau University in 1835: we present a brief summary of each, with the major innovative findings highlighted. Results: the two dissertations contain remarkable, though often overlooked, contributions to Dentistry. Among these we can indicate the individuation of: the dental cement (substantia ostoidea), the acquired dental pellicle, the nature of optical illusion of Hunter-Schreger lines, the “enamel pulp” from which the enamel would evolve, the sub-odontoblastic nervous plexus which is the cause of tooth sensitivity, the predentine, the organic nature of the process of enamel formation, the dentine and enamel formation in opposing directions, the presence of alveolus membrane (id est: the periodontium). Conclusions: after reviewing the main innovations these two dissertations made to Dentistry, Purkyně’s personal share in both is very clear. Both the two his pupils acknowledged their debt to Purkyně and also famous contemporary Purkinje scientists such as Alexander Nasmyth, Sir Richard Owen, Sir James Paget had no doubt he is had generated the ideas expressed in the two little treatises.
Highlights
He started working as a private tutor in Prague while studying at Prague University faculty of philosophy. He began his studies in medicine in 1812, graduating in 1818 from Prague University with a dissertation entitled «A contribution to knowledge about subjective sight» (Purkinje, 1819). He was appointed assistant professor of anatomy at the university, a post he held for five years before moving in 1823 to the Royal Prussian University of Breslau ( Wrocław, Poland) where he worked as professor of physiology and pathology until 1850
From 1829 to 1834 they had four children: Rosalia and Johanna who died of scarlet fever in 1832 (Henry, 1953), Emmanuel, who became a professor of botany and karel, who was destined to be one of the Czech Republic’s most famous painters, dying in 1868
In 1850 he was appointed professor of physiology at Prague University, a post he held until his death in 1869
Summary
E. was educated at his local, Czech language primary school (Anonymous, 1870; Henry, 1953) and from 1797 until 1804 at the Piarist Fathers secondary school in southern Moravia There he learned German, Latin, French and Italian and entered the Piarist Order as a novice (Henry, 1953; Posner, 1969; Sykora, 1988) but decided against taking his vows in 1807. When Julia succumbed to meningitis in 1835 (Henry, 1953), J.E. was left a widower with two children under the age of four Despite these family tragedies, which he bore with Job-like patience, the years he spent at Breslau were among his most prolific. He received a state funeral and is buried in Prague’s «Vyšehrad» monumental cemetery, which is reserved for the Czech Republic’s most prominent citizens
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