Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig, a fabled physiologist and mentor of Scandinavian Physiology Announcing the Carl Ludwig Award for young authors in Acta Physiologica (Oxford)

摘要

The door creaks open, giving way to only a narrow slit, two eyes hesitantly peer at me, a muzzled 'Yes he's still alive' is barely audible. Odd, I think as the door promptly closes, leaving me without a clue to what just happened. Only, the day before, in the catacombs of Europe's largest clinics, the Charite, had I discovered a physiology legend's bust: Carl Ludwig (Fig. 1). His nose brutally severed, leaving only a hole in the plaster and thick dust crust not quite covering Ludwig' prominent scar on his cheek. A Schmiss, as they call such scars in Germany. Today, some fraternities in Germany still perform the Mensur, a sort of ritualized fencing. All injuries from such battles, in former times, were presented with pride; legend has it that salt was applied to the wound so that a decent scar may form.