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Murk van Phelsum

Dutch physician and zoologist (1732–1779)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ389064 ↗
Source-derived summary

Murk van Phelsum (6 August 1732, probably Leeuwarden - 21 August 1779, Sneek) was a Dutch physician, who was the namesake for the lizard genus Phelsuma.

Van Phelsum started his medical studies on 17 November 1754 at the university of Franeker (Netherlands), where he later earned his doctorate. He settled down as a medical doctor first in Bolsward and from 1764 in Sneek.

He wrote:

Historia physiologica ascaridum (Physiological history of roundworms) (Leeuwarden, 1762)

Explicatio patrium pythographiae L. Plukneti (Explanation of the origins of pythography by Leonard Plukenet) (Haarlem, 1769)

Natuurkundige verhandeling over de wormen die veeltijds in de darmen der menschen gevonden worden. (Natural science treatise on the worms commonly found in the intestines of humans.) (Leeuwarden, 1767), translated into German by Joh. Weisse (Gotha 1780-92)

Vertoog over de gemakkelijkste wijze om geknelde darmbreuken binnen te brengen. (Discourse on the easiest way to insert intestinal hernias) (Sneek 1772)

Brief aan den heer C. Nozeman over de gewelfstekken of zeeëgelen, waarachter gevoegd zijn twee beschrijvingen, de eene van een zeker soort zeewier en de andere van maden in een vuile verzwering gevonden. (Letter to Mr Nozeman on the sea urchins, after which are added two descriptions, one of a certain type of seaweed and the other of maggots found in a dirty ulcer.) (Rotterdam 1775)

Twee brieven rakende de verhandeling van den heer Tissot over de vallende ziekte. (Two letters regarding the treatise by Mr Tissot on the falling sickness.) (Amsterdam 1776) Note: Falling sickness refers to epilepsy.

Verhandelingen over tot de genees- en natuurkunde behoorende onderwerpen.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Murk van Phelsum” as dutch physician and zoologist (1732–1779). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Murk, Phelsum and Dutch.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1732, 1779, 1754, 1764—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1730-08-06, 1732-08-06—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Murk, Phelsum and Dutch providing the first useful test.
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Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Murk van Phelsum”, the useful work is to connect “dutch physician and zoologist (1732–1779)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q389064. VIAF identifies the subject as 7728066. The Library of Congress control number is nr00016980. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1732, 1779, 1754 and 1764.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Murk van Phelsum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.