Romberg
\ˈrȯm-berk\, Moritz Heinrich (1795–1873),
German pathologist. A professor of medicine at Berlin, Romberg wrote the first formal treatise on diseases of the nervous system. Published 1840 to 1846, it was the first attempt to organize scattered data and to systematize methods of treatment. The manual was notable for emphasizing the significance of physiological principles in interpreting neurological function and for its precise clinical illustrations. The treatise contains descriptions of the pathognomonic symptom of tabes dorsalis, now known as Romberg's sign, and of neuralgia affecting the eye, brow, or temple. Romberg is also remembered for his classic description of achondroplasia in 1817.
