In 1888, Alois Alzheimer presented an inaugural dissertation about ceruminal glands at the Medical Faculty of Würzburg, certainly the first on this topic. The aim of this study is to recall this dissertation. It is completed by a historical review of the scientific literature on this subject available during Alzheimer’s time. It is a very good example of a well conducted acribic research. After a historical introduction, allowing for an overview of the subject and the preceding research, Alzheimer raised a clear histological question concerning the position of the opening of the secretory canal of the ceruminal gland, which is different in children and adults. The abilities acquired during this research certainly played a major role in his further aptitude to study neuropathological histological sections of the brain and finally describe his eponymous disease. Even if it concerns only a peculiar anatomical detail of the ear, Alzheimer’s inaugural dissertation can be considered as a key work in his career, which was the first milestone on the way to becoming one of the fathers of neuropathology, and the founder of the German school of neuropathology.
Quellenangabe: Hist Otorhinolaryngol. 20171; 163-170
