The death of moulages - wax figures in dermatology

Wax has been used far illustration purposes back to antiquity. Since the re naissance period human anatomy and different diseases have often been depic ted in wax. During the last century the art of moulage preparation evolved to three-dimensional, realistic representations of diseased parts of the hu man body. Its heyday and wide spread distribution paralleled the growing in dependence of dermatology. Apart from few exceptions, most mouleurs did not permit access to their technique either to successors or the public. Just like other European hospitals, the Department of Dermatology at Kiel Univer sity houses a comprehensive collection of moulages dating back to a century . The 455 objects left today were collected by Professor Viktor Felix Karl Klingmuller (1870-1942) who was head of the department from 1906 to 1937. T he mouleur Alfons Kroner from Breslau who died 1937 supplied most (354) of the wax models. Highly esteemed at his time, Kroner was quite secretive abo ut his art of moulagig. 35 of his moulages bear the abbrevation "DRP" stand ing for Deutsches Reichspatent (German patent); Kroner was granted a patent in 1902. In his patent application both wax mixtures and technical procedu re of moulaging are described in great detail. Kroner, similarly to Jules B aretta (Paris),coloured his moulages at the back of the wax layers. Applyin g for a patent demonstrates his effort to meet increasing commercial pressu re among suppliers of teaching aids at that time. Knowledge of individual t echnical procedures is essential for medical history as well as proper rest auration of moulages as they continually deteriorate with time. Because of their three-dimensional and realistic disease representations, moulages sti ll compare well to modern media used today. Consequently, the,,dying of mou lages" concerning the wax objects themselves as well as public or medical i nterest has to be stopped to preserve moulages for future generations.