Felix Plater (or Platter) (1536–1614) was a Swiss physician, professor in Basel, well known for his classification of psychiatric diseases, and was also the first to describe an intracranial tumour. Felix Plater was the son of humanist Thomas Platter, and the half-brother of Thomas Platter the Younger. Plater's description of Dupuytren's disease in 1614 is explained with regard to his understanding of the anatomy. The current view that Plater believed the disease to be caused by dislocation and shortening of the flexor tendons is based upon misinterpretation of the original Latin text...