[Space and medical market: Johann Friedrich Glaser's practice in Suhl]

The diary of the town and state physician Johann Friedrich Glaser (1707-1789) of Suhl enables us to reconstruct the area where he recruted his patients. A stream of visitors consulted him regularly. They often came from places where they had to travel at least two days in order to consult the physician. A visit in his house was therefore a decision consciously planned. A comparison of the sphere of Glaser's influence as a practitioner with the spheres of influence where his relatives (executioners and barber surgeons) lived shows how narrowly both were connected. Glaser's position on the medical market was very much influenced by his family network. The same picture can be obtained by analyzing the social spectrum of Glaser's patients, which is as manifold as the topographical indications, which one can draw from his diary. These do not give a systematic picture of the clients, which Glaser tried to gain, but are following communication channels established by his family network.