FROEHLICH, ALFRED

FROEHLICH, ALFRED (1871–1953), pharmacologist. He was born in Vienna and became professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Vienna in 1912. In 1939 he settled in the U.S. and became associated with the Jewish   Hospital in Cincinnati. He was the first to describe in 1901 adiposo-genital dystrophy, a form of obesity which is associated with a tumor in the pituitary gland and deficient development of the sex organs. He collaborated with otto loewi on the pharmacology of the autonomous nervous system, and as a result of their discoveries, the use of a combination of adrenalin and cocaine was established in medical practice. Together with the neurologist L.F. Hochward, Froehlich recommended the use of hypoglysin during delivery, a practice that became universally accepted. He and H.H. Mayer investigated the contracture of striated muscle fibers under influence of tetanus toxin. He carried out experimental research in increasing the effect of certain drugs and made extensive investigations into the effect of theophylline. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.A. Kagan, Jewish Medicine (1952), 209–12. (Suessmann Muntner)