Anton Friedrich Hohl

Life & Legacy

Anton Friedrich Hohl (17 November 1789–23 January 1862) was a German professor of obstetrics born in Lobenstein.
He studied law at the University of Leipzig, and following graduation opened a law practice in his home town of Lobenstein. In 1824 he was able procure sufficient funds to study medicine. In 1827 he obtained his medical doctorate at Halle an der Saale with a dissertation on microcephaly.
This thesis was based on a specimen from the teratological collection of Johann Friedrich Meckel (1781-1833). In 1834 Hohl became a full professor of obstetrics at Halle.
Hohl published numerous works in the field of obstetrics, including an influential textbook titled Lehrbuch der Geburtshülfe mit Einschluss der geburtshülflichen Operationen und der gerichtlichen Geburtshülfe. (Textbook of Obstetrics with the Inclusion of Obstetric Operations and Forensic Obstetrics). In 1852 he was the first physician to describe agenesis of the lower spine. Earlier in his career he provided a description for design of a fetal stethoscope (1834).