Conrad Eckhard was a German physiologist born in Kassel

Kassel

Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...

.

He studied medicine in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 and Marburg

Marburg

Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...

, and from 1848 served as a prosector

Prosector

A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and pathology....

 under Franz Ludwig Fick

Franz Ludwig Fick

Franz Ludwick Fick was a professor of anatomy at the University of Marburg.-Career:Fick studied the developmental mechanics of bone growth, especially of the skull. He invented the cerebral phantom - an openable paper model showing the various parts of the brain that became the prototype of...

 (1813-1858) and as an assistant to Carl Ludwig

Carl Ludwig

----Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig was a German physician and physiologist.In 1842 Ludwig became a professor of physiology and in 1846 of comparative anatomy...

 (1816-1895) in Marburg. In 1850 he moved to Giessen, where he worked as a prosector and assistant to Theodor Ludwig Wilhelm Bischoff (1807-1882). From 1855 to 1891 he was an associate professor of physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

 and anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 at the University of Giessen

University of Giessen

The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...

. From 1858 to 1888 he was editor of Beiträge zur Anatomie and Physiologie.

Eckhard is remembered for pioneer research of motor (myotomes) and sensory (dermatomes

Cutis plate

The dermatomal mesenchyme or cutis plate is the dorsal portion of the paraxial mesoderm somite which gives rise to dermis.It is also known as the "dermatome", but it should not be confused with the dermatomic area, which is also sometimes called a "dermotome"...

) projections of nerve roots. He also made contributions in his investigations towards olfaction

Olfaction

Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...

 in amphibians, and in his studies on the erector mechanism

Erection

Penile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...

 of the canine penis

Penis

The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...

.

Selected writings

• Grundzüge der Physiologie des Nervensystems (Outlines on the Physiology of the Nervous System), 1854
• Lehrbuch der Anatomie des Menschen (Textbook on the Anatomy of Humans), 1862
• Experimentalphysiologie des Nervensystems (Experimental Physiology of the Nervous System), 1867