[Professor Fritz Lotsch--a wrongfully forgotten German pioneer in anesthesia]

Like many of the contributors to the early development of anaesthesia in Germany. Prof. Fritz Lotsch (1879-1958) was a surgeon. His acknowledged clinical teachers were Habs. Magdeburg, (1904-1907) in surgery and Benda, Berlin, (1909-1911) in pathology. Lotsch worked at the famous Charité in Berlin under Hildebrand (1908-1909 and 1911-1924) and later as chief surgeon in Burg (1925-1946) and Magdeburg (1946-1952). Lotsch's main contributions to anaesthesia were the development of devices for the administration of inhalation anaesthesia. In cooperation with the Georg Haertel Company he recommended as early as 1910 a "positive pressure anaesthesia apparatus". He improved this device and demonstrated repeatedly the advantages of the Kuhn principle of endotracheal intubation. As early as 1903 Lotsch reported on clinical experience with the recently developed barbiturate "Veronal". Later he reported on advantages and disadvantages of combined anaesthesia using inhalation anaesthetics, opiates and barbiturates. In 1913 he recommended a special double cannula for intravenous infusion purposes which was only rediscovered decades later.