Johannes Bohn

Johannes Bohn (1640 to 1718) was a German physician, a native of Leipzig. He studied medicine at the universities of Leipzig and Jena and took his doctorate in 1665. In 1668 he was promoted to the anatomical chair at Leipzig, in 1690 he succeeded Gottfried Welsch as Stadtphysikus of the city, in 1691 he became city physician and professor of therapeutics, and in 1693 and 1694 he served as rector of the university. Bohn was known for pioneering work as a medical-legal officer in forensic medicine: he introduced the policy of thorough autopsies of the deceased and specialised in the investigation of lethal wounds. His treatise of 1689 examined the distinction between purposeful and accidental fatal wounds, and his Circulus anatomico physiologicus of 1710 gathered lectures on respiration, circulation, digestion and fetal development. He also did early research on the physiology of the circulatory system. Many of his writings were burned before his death, as his will required.