Bartholomäus Metlinger

Bartholomäus Metlinger was a German physician of the Late Middle Ages, born in Augsburg and dead by about 1491. He graduated from the University of Bologna in 1470 and then served as city physician, first in Nördlingen from 1476 to 1483 and afterwards in Augsburg, where he probably took the post held by his father Peter Metlinger. He is remembered for the Kinderbüchlein, or Little Book on Children, published on 7 December 1473 and retitled in later editions Ein Regiment der jungen Kinder. It is the first German-language work on pediatrics. The book treats the care of infants and small children up to the age of seven, describes several childhood diseases and their treatments, adds advice on upbringing, and holds one of the first known written definitions of a pacifier. This entry records what was written and held in his time and is not medical advice.