Autograph letter signed

Stilling, Benedikt (1810-79). Autograph letter signed, in German, to Herr Enke(?). Cassel, July 31, 1843. 2pp. plus integral blank. 214 x 133 mm. Mounted. Fine.

From German neurologist Benedikt Stilling, who named the vasomotor nerves in his Physiologisch-pathologische und medicinisch-praktische Untersuchungen über die Spinal-Irritation (1840) to his publisher. Stilling is also remembered for introducing a procedure of serial-section portrayal (thin slicing) of spinal cord specimens for histological study, and for having performed the first ovariotomy in Germany. His name is associated with "Stilling's canal" (a small channel running through the vitreous humor between the optic disk nerve and the lens) and the "Fleece of Stilling" (a mesh of myelinated fibers surrounding the dentate nucleus of the cerebellum).

Stilling's letter can be translated as follows:

"Dear Mr. Enke, I fully agree with the contract and other information you sent. I will therefore send you the contract with my signature and also will have it notarized. I will send the letter today to Mr. Ritmüller . . . Then the printing of the plates can begin. Today the largest of my plates was successfully finished by [...]. In a fortnight another one will be ready. Then five completed plates will be printed in Göttingen. You will have then eight new trial printings to enjoy-I hope. I am busy working on the MS and am trying to perfect it as much as possible . . ."

Stilling's letter most likely refers to the publication of his Ueber die Medulla Oblongata, published in 1843 by F. Enke.