Edward Heinrich Henoch (1820-1910) is usually remembered for his description of punpura but his contribution to pediatrics goes far beyond the form of purpura which bears his name. As the Director of the Department for Children's Diseases in the Royal Charité Hospital, Berlin from 1872 to 1893 he, more than anyone else, initiated the modern concept of pediatrics.1
From his superb textbook entitled, Lectures on Children's Diseases, the following description of how easily Henoch treated encopresis may surprise the contemporary physician faced with this vexing symptom:
In October 1879, a boy of 8 years was brought to the polyclinic who, for the last 2 years, had not been able to retain his faeces. . . . He dirtied his clothes several times a day, but never during the night time.