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Goethe demonstrates the human intermaxillary bone to scientific correspondents

In 1784 Goethe showed, against a then common anatomical denial, that humans possess an intermaxillary (premaxillary) bone, communicating the finding to scientific friends. In the causal graph this event strengthens Health-System Capacity, a driver that strengthens Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) — an improving welfare path.

Goethe demonstrates the human intermaxillary bone to scientific correspondents

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

In 1784 Goethe showed, against a then common anatomical denial, that humans possess an intermaxillary (premaxillary) bone, communicating the finding to scientific friends.

Context

It does not staff a clinic. Priority disputes with Vicq d’Azyr belong in the historical context, not as a stolen-bone melodrama.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

An anatomical demonstration is not a hospital. Keep the lag.

Keep the lag.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.32 · verified

    Dated act under Goethe as author, councillor, or later named subject. Printers, duke, and museums share labour.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactGoethe demonstrates the human intermaxillary bone to scientific correspondents
    2. strengthensDriverHealth-System Capacity
    3. strengthensIndicators (2)Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)
    Improving path

    impact weight 0.35 · Effect from 1 October 1784 · verified

    An anatomical demonstration is not a hospital. Keep the lag.

    • Hospital beds (per 1,000 people)

      via Health-System Capacity

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.21 (weight 0.35 × strength 0.6)

      Observed

      3.08 Per 1000 people · 1.24 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      6 readings, 2018–2023: rose from 3.07 Per 1000 people to 3.08 Per 1000 people.

      Above normal = better

    • Under-five mortality rate (global)

      via Health-System Capacity

      Better

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.17 (weight 0.35 × strength 0.5)

      Observed

      37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births · 12.4 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      7 readings, 2018–2024: fell from 40 deaths per 1,000 live births to 37.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.

      Above normal = worse

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Goethe, Johann Wolfgang vonInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — Johann Wolfgang von GoetheEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, and museums are not converted into extra lifetime acts. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself. Confidence is stated on the impact path. A later English edition is not a recovered autograph. If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
  2. contributed toFactGoethe demonstrates the human intermaxillary bone to scientific correspondents
  3. strengthensDriverHealth-System Capacity
  4. strengthensIndicatorHospital beds (per 1,000 people)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Goethe demonstrates the human intermaxillary bone to scientific correspondents. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/go-zwischenkiefer-1784

https://factrail.ai/facts/go-zwischenkiefer-1784

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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