In August 1782, a Westphalian farmer, aged 36, was treated for serious injuries obtained in a carriage accident near his home. According to an account published by Gottingen medical professor August Richter, the farmer’s apron had become entangled in the wheels of his carriage, dragging his lower body into the spokes.

Though he reported suffering no “violent pain or loss of recollection”, the farmer’s injuries were nevertheless quite extensive:

“His genital organs were entirely torn off… The urethra was torn off, as was the penis, as far as the neck of the bladder. There remained no vestige of the scrotum or the right testicle. The left testicle remained but only attached via the spermatic cord… The prostate, contused and torn, was adhered by a few fibres and hung externally from the wound.”

Despite losing a good portion of his reproductive system, the farmer was able to stand and walk about 200 yards to his house, where he “preserved the parts that were torn off in spirit of wine”. He was later attended by doctors, who replaced what they could, dressed the wound, bled the patient and gave him a draught. With further medical attention the patient’s wounds healed and he was able to return to a relatively normal life, albeit without external genitals.

Source: August Gottlieb Richter, Chirurgische Bibliothek, vol. 7, 1794. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.