Theophilus_Müller

Theophilus Müller

Theophilus Müller

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Theophilus Müller (also known as Teofilo Molinatore and Theophilus Molitor) (Hersfeld 1576- Würzburg 1619 (?))[1] was professor of botany at the University of Ingolstadt.[2] He joined the Accademia dei Lincei in 1611.[3]

In 1621 Theophilus Müller and Giovanni Faber performed the first documented dissection of a rat. Their pregnant specimen appeared to have a penis and testes as well as a uterus, so they described it as a hermaphrodite. In fact the supposed penis was a clitoris, and the testes were vaginal glands.[4]

Federico Cesi had purchased the unpublished papers of the Fransicso Hernández expedition, part-edited by Nardo Antonio Recchi, containing a compendium of New World plants. There was a Lincean project to send Müller to Mexico to complete the necessary research for the publication,[5] but nothing appears to have come of it.[6]

References

  1. [1]
    Capecchi, Anna Maria (1992). "L'Accademia dei Lincei e la cultura europea nel XVII secolo: Manoscritti, libri, incisioni, strumenti scientifici : Mostra storica".
  2. [2]
    David Freedberg, The Eye of the Lynx: Galileo, His Friends, and the Beginnings of Modern Natural History, University of Chicago Press, 2003 p.113
  3. [3]
    "Wayback Machine has not archived that URL". Retrieved 14 May 2023.[dead link]
  4. [4]
    Abbott, Alison (2004). "The Renaissance rat". Nature. 428 (6982): 464–466. doi:10.1038/428464a. PMID 15057803. S2CID 11473955.
  5. [5]
    file:///C:/Users/McCapra/Downloads/1555-4727-2-PB.pdf accessed 15/7/2017
  6. [6]
    Francisco Hernández, Simon Varey, Rafael Chabrán, The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández Stanford University Press, 2001 p.15
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