Bernhard Naunyn

Biography

• Born on September 2, 1839 in Berlin
• 1862 – Received medical qualification at the University of Berlin
• 1869-1871 Professor of Medicine and head of clinics at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia)
• 1871-1972 Professor of Medicine at the University of Bern, Switzerland
• 1872-1888 Professor of Medicine at the University of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia)
• 1873 – Co-founded Archiv für Experimentelle Pathologie und Pharmakologie with Edwin Klebs (1834-1913) and Oswald Schmiederberg (1838-1921)
• 1888-1904 Professor of Medicine at the University of Strassbourg, France
• Died on July 26, 1925

Medical Eponyms

Murphy Sign (1896)

In 1896, Naunyn, in his treatise on cholelithiasis described clinical examination for gallstones with palpation in the right upper quadrant on inspiration and comparing right and left hypochondria.

Naunyn’s method of palpation was published 7 years before that of John B. Murphy (1857 – 1916) and bears the closest resemblance to the clinical examination skill employed today.

If the liver is swollen as the result of the attack (i.e., recently) the organ is always more or less tender, and often very acutely so; but frequently it is tender without being swollen. In such cases it is found that pain is induced when, during a deep inspiration, pressure is made with the hand as far upwards as possible beneath the right costal border. At the moment when the liver impinges upon the tips of the fingers the patient experiences a deep-seated pain which sometimes radiates over the entire hepatic region and on to the epigastrium. By no means rarely, however, the tenderness of the liver is only manifested by tension of the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall on the right side, and in such cases the difference in tension of the right and left side respectively is best observed in the rectus abdominis.

Key Medical Attributions

Naunyn introduced the term “acidosis.” in 1898

Gallstone disease

Diabetes Mellitus

Pharmacology

Major Publications

• Naunyn B, Schreiber J. Ueber Gehirndruck. 1881
• Nothnagel H, Naunyn B. Über die Localisation der Gehirnkrankheiten. 1887
• Naunyn B. Mittheilungen aus der medicinischen Klinik zu Königsberg i. Pr. 1888
• Naunyn B. Kurzer Leitfaden für die Punction der Pleura- und Peritonealergüsse. 1889
• Naunyn B. A treatise on cholelithiasis. 1896 [Murphy sign]
• Naunyn B. Der Diabetes melitus. 1898
• Naunyn B. The development of internal medicine with hygiene and bacteriology in the 19th century. 1900
• Naunyn B. Erinnerungen Bedanken und Meinungen. 1925

References

Biography

• Woodyatt RT. Bernhard Naunyn. Diabetes. 1952; 1(3): 240-1.
• Bernhard Naunyn (1839-1925), clinician, teacher, scientist. JAMA. 1969; 208(7): 1182-3.
• Bibliography. Bernhard Naunyn. World Cat Identities

Eponymous terms

• Pohar M, Hansson N. The “Nobel Population” in Pharmacology: Nobel Prize laureates, nominees and nominators 1901-1953 with a focus on B. Naunyn and O. Schmiedeberg. Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2020 Jan 18
• Hine C. Naunyn sign. Eponym A Day. Instagram
• Cadogan M. Murphy’s sign. Eponym A Day. Instagram