Pfeiffer, Emil

Physician, balneologist

born: 01.03.1846 in Wiesbaden

died: 13.07.1921 in Wiesbaden

Pfeiffer, brother of the bacteriologist August Pfeiffer, studied medicine in Bonn, Würzburg and Berlin, where he also obtained his doctorate. After participating in the 1870/71 war as a field assistant doctor, he set up as a general practitioner in Wiesbaden in 1872 and also worked as a municipal doctor for the poor. In 1872, he spent several months studying in Vienna.

His main medical concern was for sick children, as evidenced by his publications on the care and nutrition of infants and on the performance and methods of milk analysis. A febrile illness with swelling of the lymph glands in the throat and neck area, which can occur mainly in children and adolescents, is associated with his name: Pfeiffer's glandular fever.

In 1881, his book "Die Trinkkur in Wiesbaden" was published. Together with several colleagues, he published the promotional publications "Balneologische Studien über Wiesbaden" and "Wiesbaden als Kurort", thereby promoting the city's reputation and through his work in the Kur- und Verkehrsverein e.V., of which he was chairman for many years. His writings "Gout and its successful treatment" and "Gout and obesity" made him world-famous. He was one of the founders of the Congress of Internists and served as secretary of the Society of Internal Medicine from 1882 to 1914.

In addition to his medical research, he devoted himself to natural history, especially botany, and historical studies of his home town. He collected pictures and documents on the former appearance and development of the city, painted scientifically relevant plant pictures and compiled a herbarium on the flora of Wiesbaden. In his time, he was one of the greatest supporters of all departments of the Wiesbaden Museum, which also received his estate.

The Emil-Pfeiffer-Weg in Wiesbaden commemorates the physician.