Charles Rayger, Sr.

* Bratislava, September 22, 1641 – † Bratislava, January 14, 1707 / physician ; ; He studied in Bratislava, Altdorf, Wittenberg, then attended lectures on dissection and surgery in Paris, and delved into botany in Montpellier. In 1667 he was ordained a doctor of medicine in Strasbourg. After a tour of Italy, he returned to his homeland. From 1668 he was the city physician of Bratislava for 39 years. Emperor Leopold I appointed him court physician and chief physician of Hungary. In 1677 he reported on an influenza epidemic in Bratislava in a German medical journal. He wrote a large number of treatises on smallpox, influenza, infantile spasms, etc. In many cases, he clarified the essence of the disease by dissecting. He established a medical botanical garden in his hometown. He reported on the medical use of certain domestic plants. He was the first to describe the lung float test. The Rayger float test is still used today to detect live births. He advocated the training and medical supervision of midwives. His works were published in the journal of the Halle Academy. A diary-like work of his and some other works [e.g. a commentary on the work of György Wernher (Eperjes) on the mineral waters of Hungary] remained in manuscript (Diarium observationibus prope trecentis refertum, Responsa et consilia medica, Constitutiones aëris ab an. 1647. ad an 1705., Ephemerides de andemiis et epidemicis Hungariae, Commentarius in Wernherum de admirandis Hungariae Aquis). ; ; His main works: ; Observatio de Puella sine cerebro nata, 1685, ; Observationum medicinalium Centuria a D. Paulo Spindlero Posonii consignata, studio et opera Caroli Raygeri collecta..., 1691, ; Constitutio epidemica Posoniensis annorum 1695, 1696, 1697.