A Frank Bit of History

[H]

Sometimes, in the search to clarify things, one stumbles upon other affiliations. One of a number of clichés is, "As American as hot dogs and apple pie." Then there was once a contention that 'hot dogs' originated in -- Russia? Anywho, another name for the sausage is frankfurter, rather indicating a more probable origin. However, typing 'frankfurter' into the search engine brought up something else...

According to Orla J. Werner, Christian Sohns, Aron F. Popov, Jannik Haskamp, and Jan D. Schmitto, “Ludwig Rehn,” Journal of Medical Biography 2012: in earl;y September, 1896, Dr. Ludwig Rehn, with the condition critical and death imminent, decided to open a man’s chest and perform surgery directly on his heart. He successfully repaired the right ventricle, thus performing a first in open heart surgery in the Western world.

This was in Frankfurt, Germany... hmn... wonder where they got those casings for those first frankfurters...