title: [Records of the invisible: Visa reperta in 18th- and 19th-century forensic medicine and their role as promoters of pathological-anatomical knowledge].
abstract: Case reports in medicine serve as a tool to collect and to transfer knowledge. A special kind of case report in forensic medicine during the 18th and 19th centuries was the so-called Visum repertum. This format of note-taking and of rendering an expert opinion without presuppositions has rarely investigated in the history of medicine. Analyzing Visa reperta the authors argue that due to their special structure and mode of representation Visa reperta not only shaped the practice of forensic medicine but also the standardized examination and documentation in pathological anatomy. Based on previous studies on medical case reports, medical expert witnesses in court and traditions in pathological anatomy the authors examine two examples from the 18th and 19th centuries in order to show how semiological, classifying methods of presenting forensic examinations were replaced by the material aspect of the observation of examination results itself. The examples are a forensic case report by Michael Alberti (1682-1757) from 1728 and a Visum repertum by Joseph Bernt (1770-1842) from 1827. The authors argue that Visa reperta transcended their original forensic purpose and served as a guideline for pathology leading to an understanding of the origin of diseases in organs. They served as a promoter of scientific medicine, and their persuasiveness was backed by factors such as (a) the extreme conditions of forensic practice, (b) the claim to act as a tool for the sound and precise recording of facts and c) the awareness that they documented objects that were destroyed during the process of documentation.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Medizinische Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum. irmgard.mueller@rub.de
authors.forename: Irmgard
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Heiner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fangerau
mesh_terms: D019412:Anatomy, Cross-Sectional / Q000266:history*; D001344:Autopsy / Q000266:history*; D004282:Documentation / Q000266:history*; D005104:Expert Testimony; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000266:history*; D049429:Forensic Pathology / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans