Otto Ludwig Bernhard Kohlrausch (March 20, 1811 - November 14, 1854) was a German physician and surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 who was a native of Barmen

Barmen

Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which in 1929 with four other towns was merged with the city of Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. Barmen was the birth-place of Friedrich Engels and together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the...

. He studied natural sciences at the University of Bonn

University of Bonn

The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...

 and medicine at Georg-August University of Göttingen

Georg-August University of Göttingen

The University of Göttingen , known informally as Georgia Augusta, is a university in the city of Göttingen, Germany.Founded in 1734 by King George II of Great Britain and the Elector of Hanover, it opened for classes in 1737. The University of Göttingen soon grew in size and popularity...

. In 1835 he began practicing medicine in Hannover, and in 1841 established a health spa at Bad Rehburg

Rehburg-Loccum

Rehburg-Loccum is a town 50 km north west of Hanover in the district of Nienburg in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Geographical location:Rehburg-Loccum borders the Steinhude Lake...

 on behalf of the government.

Otto Kohlrausch was a member of a distinguished family of scientists and scholars, and was an uncle to famed physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 Friedrich Kohlrausch

Friedrich Kohlrausch

Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Kohlrausch was a German physicist who investigated the conductive properties of electrolytes and contributed to knowledge of their behaviour...

 (1840-1910). The eponymous "Kohlrausch's valves" are named after him, which are also known as the transverse rectal folds

Houston valve

Houston's valves are semi-lunar transverse folds of the rectal wall that protrude into the rectum, not the anal canal as that lies below the rectum. Their use seems to be to support the weight of fecal matter, and prevent its urging toward the anus, which would produce a strong urge to defecate...

. Another anatomical

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 structure associated with his name is "Kohlrausch's muscle", which is used to refer to any of the longitudinal muscles of the rectal

Rectum

The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in some mammals, and the gut in others, terminating in the anus. The human rectum is about 12 cm long...

wall.

Selected publications

• Physiologie und Chemie in ihrer gegenwärtigen Stellung (Contemporary Physiology and Chemistry); (Göttingen 1844)
• Zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Beckenorgane (The Anatomy and Physiology of the Pelvic Organs); (Leipzig 1854)