Johann Andreas Eisenbarth

Johann Andreas Eisenbarth (1663 to 1727) was a German surgeon, born in Oberviechtach in Bavaria, who died in Hann. Münden. He came from a family of surgeons: his grandfather and father practised the trade, and much of his medical knowledge came from his brother-in-law. He worked as an oculist and barber-surgeon and specialized in the treatment of cataracts, calculus surgery and the setting of bone fractures. Although people called him Doctor Eisenbarth, he held no formal medical credentials and was never awarded the title, yet he was regarded as a skilled surgeon and received privileges from German royalty. He travelled through much of Germany with a large entourage of entertainers and musicians, designed his own instruments, including a cataract needle and a polypus hook, and sold remedies he made himself from his house in Magdeburg. A student song of about 1800 mocked his memory, and a fountain in Oberviechtach commemorates him.