Meckel, Johann Friedrich

Meckel, Johann Friedrich

(born Oct. 17, 1781, Halle, Prussia—died Oct. 31, 1833, Halle) German anatomist. He was the first to describe the embryonic cartilage (Meckel cartilage) that becomes part of the lower jaw in fishes, amphibians, and birds and also described a congenital pouch (Meckel diverticulum) of the small intestine. He wrote a treatise on pathological anatomy and an atlas of human abnormalities.

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Meckel, Johann Friedrich 

Born Oct. 17, 1781, in Halle, Saxony; died there Oct. 31, 1833. German biologist.

Meckel studied in Halle, Göttingen, Würzburg, and Vienna. In 1808 he became a professor at Halle. His principal works deal with comparative vertebrate morphology. Meckel was one of the creators of the theory that individual development in extant higher animals passes through stages similar to the adult states of extant lower animals. Meckel described a number of morphological formations, which are named for him. In 1812 he translated into German K. F. Wolffs On the Formation of the Intestinal Tract in the Chick (1768), which advanced the dissemination of his theory of epigenesis.

WORKS

Beiträge zur vergleichenden Anatomic, 2 vols. Leipzig, 1811.
System der vergleichenden Anatomie, 5 vols. Halle, 1821–33.