August Richter

Biographical Timeline

• 1742 – Born April 13 in Zörbig, Electorate of Saxony, into a distinguished scholarly and clerical family. His father, Georg Gottfried Richter (1705–1782), was Oberpfarrer of the town; his uncle, Georg Gottlob Richter (1694–1773), was first chair of medicine at Göttingen.
• 1760 – Moved to Göttingen to study medicine under his uncle’s guidance.
• 1764 – Graduated with a doctorate from the University of Göttingen. Dissertation: De intumescente ad calloso pyloro cum triplici hydrope.
• 1764–1766 – Undertook an extended study tour through Strasbourg, Paris, London, Oxford, Leiden, Amsterdam, and Groningen, where he encountered leading surgeons such as J.L. Petit and Percivall Pott.
• 1766 – Appointed extraordinary professor of medicine at Göttingen.
• 1766 – Delivered inaugural lecture De Dignitate Chirurgiae cum Medicina Conjungendae, advocating for the integration of surgery with medicine.
• 1770–1780 – Published his early surgical case collections as Observationum chirurgicarum (Fascicles I–III).
• 1771 – Promoted to professor ordinarius of surgery and special therapeutics at Göttingen; began editing Chirurgische Bibliothek (1771–1797; 15 volumes), considered the first German surgical report journal.
• 1773 – Published Abhandlung von der Ausziehung des grauen Stars, a landmark in cataract surgery.
• 1774 – Elected foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• 1778–1779 – Issued Abhandlung von den Brüchen (Treatise on Hernias), including his description of the strangulated partial intestinal hernia later termed Richter’s hernia.
• 1780s–1790s – Produced major multi-volume works including Anfangsgründe der Wundarzneikunst (1782–1804; 7 volumes), widely used across Europe.
• 1780 – Became personal physician to the Hanoverian court; later awarded the title of Hofrat (court councillor).
• 1792 – Portrait engraving produced (Städtisches Museum Göttingen).
• 1793 – Treated physicist and satirist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who praised his care.
• 1812 – Died July 23 in Göttingen at age 70, reportedly of complications from gout.
• Posthumous legacy – His Specielle Therapie (1813–1836) was edited and published by his son Georg August Richter (1778–1832).

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Medical Eponyms

Richter’s Hernia (1778)

Richter’s hernia is an abdominal hernia in which only a portion of the bowel wall is trapped at a small, rigid defect and may strangulate without full obstruction. It most often involves the distal ileum, but any segment from stomach to colon may be involved. The prerequisite is a defect large enough to nip the bowel wall yet too small to admit an entire loop, with a firm rim.

Accounts for 5–15% of strangulated hernias overall occurring more commonly in older adults (but any age possible). Most frequent sites are the femoral ring, then inguinal and incisional sites.

Because <2/3 of the circumference is usually involved, complete obstruction is often absent, and presentation may be deceptively mild (localized tenderness, nausea/vomiting, ±low-grade symptoms) until strangulation/ischaemia evolves. Segmental necrosis is common (up to 69% at operation in one series).

1598 – Fabricius Hildanus (1560–1634) documented the first recorded case compatible with a Richter lesion (published 1606). A long-standing groin hernia in a noblewoman complicated by gangrene and entero-cutaneous fistula.

“…the contents of the intestine… were excreted through the fistula… the sick woman… returned to good health…”

1778 – Richter described a type of strangulated hernia in which only part of the circumference of the intestinal wall is entrapped in the hernia ring, leaving the lumen partially patent. This often led to subtle clinical signs but high risk of strangulation and gangrene.

1887 – Sir Frederick Treves (1853–1923) separates Richter (wall-only) from Littre (Meckel diverticulum) and coins the eponym:

The main features of the hernia are these. A part only of the circumference of the bowel is engaged and strangulated in the hernial orifice; the involved segment may rapidly pass into gangrene, and yet the lumen of the gut remain free; the portion snared projects… as a small, rounded, bud-like diverticulum

I would venture to suggest the title ‘Richter’s hernia,’ partly because a definitive title is not forthcoming, partly to make still more clear the lines that should separate this hernia from that known as Littre’s, and partly because with Richter must rest the main credit of establishing the individuality of this lesion

Treves 1887

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Key Medical Contributions

Surgical Philosophy

Richter’s inaugural lecture at Göttingen (1766), De Dignitate Chirurgiae cum Medicina Conjungendae, set out his lifelong principle: surgery and medicine should not be divided disciplines. He criticised the split between “manual surgery” and “learned medicine,” arguing that only the physician with surgical skill could truly understand and treat disease. This was radical in an era when surgeons were still often viewed as craftsmen.

Wound and Fracture Management

Richter’s Anfangsgründe der Wundarzneikunst (1782–1804) served as a cornerstone surgical manual across Europe. He emphasised meticulous wound cleaning, drainage, and avoidance of suppuration long before antiseptic theory, and systematised fracture management with splinting, traction, and careful reduction. His writings highlight an early transition from empiricism to rational surgical science:

“Die Heilung der Wunden erfordert nicht bloss Kunstfertigkeit, sondern ein gründliches Verständniss der Naturkräfte.”
(The healing of wounds requires not only skill, but a thorough understanding of the forces of nature.)

Richter 1782

Cataract Extraction

Richter is equally remembered for his ophthalmic work. In 1773, he published Abhandlung von der Ausziehung des grauen Stars, advocating for extraction of the opaque lens rather than couching (displacement). His method involved a corneal incision, removal of the lens, and careful postoperative care.

“Die Ausziehung ist der Couchirung weit vorzuziehen; denn sie nimmt das Uebel gänzlich hinweg, ohne es bloss zu verschieben.”
(Extraction is far preferable to couching; for it removes the disease entirely, instead of merely displacing it.)

Richter 1773

Translated into English in 1791 as A Treatise on the Extraction of the Cataract, it spread across Britain and America. This helped shift cataract surgery towards definitive removal, a cornerstone in the evolution of ophthalmology.

Surgical Publishing and Education

Richter not only operated but shaped the discipline of surgery through publishing. His Chirurgische Bibliothek (1771–1797) is considered the first German surgical periodical, providing critical reviews of new techniques and case reports.

Richter’s son, Georg August Richter (1778–1832), carried forward his father’s academic legacy, editing and publishing Richter’s Specielle Therapie (1813–1836). This ensured that his systematic approach to disease treatment outlived him and influenced a new generation of practitioners.

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Major Publications

• Richteri AG. Observationum chirurgicarum fasciculus 1770 [fasciculus secundus 1776, fasciculus tertius 1780]
• Richter AG. Abhandlung von der Ausziehung des grauer Staars. 1773 [A treatise on the extraction of the cataract 1791]
• Richter AG. Abhandlung von den Brüchen. 1778 [2e, 1785] [Einklemmung des Darms (Richter Hernia]
• Richter AG. Anfangsgründe der Wundarzneykunst. 1782 [Volume II, III, VI]
• Richter AG. Traité des hernies. 1788
• Richter AG. Medical and surgical observations. 1794
• Richter AG. Die specielle Therapie nach den hinterlassenen Papieren des verstorbenen. 1813-1836 [Volume II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, X, XI]

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References

Biography

• Seifert D. August Gottlieb Richter (1742–1812). Z Herz- Thorax- Gefäßchir 2013: 27: 366–373

Eponymous terms

• Treves F. Richter’s hernia or partial enterocele. Med Chir Tr 1887; 17: 149–167.
• Steinke W, Zellweger R. Richter’s hernia and Sir Frederick Treves: an original clinical experience, review, and historical overview. Ann Surg. 2000 Nov;232(5):710-8
• Skandalakis PN, Zoras O, Skandalakis JE, Mirilas P. Richter hernia: surgical anatomy and technique of repair. Am Surg. 2006 Feb;72(2):180-4.
• Seifert D. August Gottlieb Richter: Die urologischen Aspekte seines umfangreichen operativen und wissenschaftlichen Werkes [August Gottlieb Richter: urological aspects of his comprehensive operative and scientific work]. Urologe A. 2013 Jun;52(6):859-68. 
• Smith CR, Chatzikonstantinou M. Early surgical intervention is critical for strangulated Richter’s hernia. J Surg Case Rep. 2024 Oct 11;2024(10):rjae642.