The history of digestive endoscopy in the last century of the second millenium

In recent years, there was been a renwed interest on the history of digestive endoscopy, fostered by the devel- opment of endoscopic organizations (1,2). Although probably other people before him had tried to insert devices in the human body, most medical histo- rians mention Phillip Bozzini as the first physician who tried to inspect abdominal cavities by means of appropi- ate instruments (3). Bozzini was born in Mainz in 1775 and died in Frankfurt a.M. in 1809, in spite of this short life-span, he lead a very productive life ; he designed an illuminated speculum, the "Lichleiter" (Light conduc- tor) which consisted of a sort of a vase provided with a candle fixed to the lower part of the instrument for light, and a series of specula of various widths fixed to one side to allow inspection of specific orifices.