Dr. Christian Deetjen was born in Buenos Aires on August 29, 1863. He was the son of Nikolas Deetjen of North German descent, who mysteriously disappeared while on a vessel which he took to arrange business in Valparaiso. Christian's mother moved the family back to Germany.
In 1883, Christian began to study medicine at Würzburg, and received his MD degree in 1889. He devoted his attention to diseases of the nervous system.
Dr. Deetjen emigrated to the US in 1895, eventually settling in Baltimore. He bought a house at 1702 Eutaw Place where he both resided and practiced. About the same time as his arrival in Baltimore, Wilhelm Röntgen announced his discovery of x-rays. Rontgen had been Deetjen's teacher in Wurzburg and Deetjen decided to enter this new field.
He made many experiments with x-rays and was soon called upon by numerous physicians to assist in diagnoses and to give treatments.
The physicians in this field were unaware of the destructive effects that x-rays had upon their bodies, and Dr. Deetjen, like others, begain to see his digits burned and scarred. By 1930, his forearm had been amputated and he remained in constant pain.
Dr. Deetjen underwent several operations for burns of the
hands brought on from exposure to the x-rays. During one surgery, fourteen such
spots being cut out and fresh skin from the thighs transplanted to their sites.
Deetjen was a long-time member of the journalist, H.L. Menken’s
Saturday Night Club.
One of his hobbies was making candles from beeswax at
Christmas. This hobby led
to a severe accident when a pot of melting wax upset and a sheet of flame
severely burned his face, hand and arm.
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