[The death of moulages - wax figures in dermatology]

Wax has been used for illustration purposes back to antiquity. Since the renaissance period human anatomy and different diseases have often been depicted in wax. During the last century the art of moulage preparation evolved to three-dimensional, realistic representations of diseased parts of the human body. Its heyday and wide spread distribution paralleled the growing independence 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 University houses a comprehensive collection of moulages dating back to a century. The 455 objects left today were collected by Professor Viktor Felix Karl Klingmüller (1870-1942) who was head of the department from 1906 to 1937. The mouleur Alfons Kröner from Breslau who died 1937 supplied most (354) of the wax models. Highly esteemed at his time, Kröner was quite secretive about his art of moulagig. 35 of his moulages bear the abbreviation "DRP" standing for Deutsches Reichspatent (German patent); Kröner was granted a patent in 1902. In his patent application both wax mixtures and technical procedure of moulaging are described in great detail. Kröner, similarly to Jules Baretta (Paris), coloured his moulages at the back of the wax layers. Applying for a patent demonstrates his effort to meet increasing commercial pressure among suppliers of teaching aids at that time. Knowledge of individual technical procedures is essential for medical history as well as proper restauration of moulages as they continually deteriorate with time. Because of their three-dimensional and realistic disease representations, moulages still compare well to modern media used today. Consequently, the "dying of moulages" concerning the wax objects themselves as well as public or medical interest has to be stopped to preserve moulages for future generations.