SIHLER, CHRISTIAN, MD

SIHLER, CHRISTIAN, MD (2 Oct. 1848-22 Aug. 1919), physician, researcher and writer, and founder of WINDSOR HOSPITAL and LUTHERAN HOSPITAL (1896), was among the first physicians in Cleveland to promote HYDROTHERAPY. While studying biology at Johns Hopkins University, he developed pioneering techniques to trace nerve endings. Sihler was born in Fort Wayne, IN, to Wilhelm and Susanna Kern Sihler. He attended Lutheran schools and Concordia College, IN, (later Concordia Theological Seminary), where his father, a Lutheran minister, was president. After graduating from the University of Michigan Medical School (1871), he studied abroad, at the University of Berlin, for 2 years. Sihler then opened a practice in Cleveland, leaving in 1877 to study for his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. In Baltimore, he married Rosa Horn; the couple returned to Cleveland after Sihler's graduation (1881). He wrote 2 books (one in German), which he published himself, and several brochures. In addition to serving the Windsor Hydriatic Institute and as chief of staff of Lutheran Hospital, Sihler taught at the Cleveland Medical College and at the Medical School of Western Reserve University (see CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY). Sihler retired from his practice in 1909 and died in Cleveland. His family presented Dr. Sihler's Gundlach microscope to the CLEVELAND MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION for the museum collection (see DITTRICK MUSEUM OF MEDICAL HISTORY).