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LOW STATE OF MEDICAL AFFAIRS IN GERMANY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The intellectual activity of Germany was very low during the first half of the eighteenth century, and this statement applies with equal truth to all the departments of learning. It was only at the time of the French Revolution and for a few months previous to this period that the signs of an awakening began to show themselves. The prevailing unrest and turmoil in the political world are commonly assumed to have furnished ample cause for this widespread intellectual inactivity; and yet, on the other hand, it is conceivable that it was these very disturbances in the domain of politics which had the effect of stimulating the marked increase in mental activity which soon followed. This certainly seems to have been true of general literature, for it was toward the end of the period named that what are admitted to be the classical works of German authors—for instance, the writings of Klopstock, Lessing, Herder, Gellert, Wieland, Goethe, Schiller and the philosopher Kant—were first published. In medicine, says August Hirsch, one of the leading German historical authorities, other influences, beside those of a political nature, contributed powerfully toward the advancement of the science of medicine. The medical students and the younger practitioners, according to his statements, began at this period to show evidences of a wish to become more learned in things relating to their calling and to possess greater refinement in their manners and habits. Trips were made by them more and more frequently to the leading cities of France, Italy and England for the purpose of acquiring additional knowledge of medical science. Thus, little by little, the medical profession of Germany gained increased standing and respect from the community. Beginning with Prussia the governments of the different German states, one after the other, established examinations for the purpose of determining the fitness of the applicants for the right to practice medicine. Then, following the example of their rulers, members of the aristocracy adopted the practice of taking a physician with them on their travels, and the wish to be chosen for this privileged office acted upon the younger physicians as a decided stimulus to acquire greater skill and knowledge. Thus gradually the family physician, in many instances, came to be considered an adviser of greater importance than the clergyman. Then, beside, the knowledge that he had acquired this increased power and that he was held in greater esteem by society, reacted upon the physician’s character, rendering him more and more ambitious to excel and to deserve confidence.

While, during the earlier part of the eighteenth century, medical affairs in Northern and Central Germany were in the condition described above, there was taking place at Vienna, the capital of Austria, the most effective revival of medical science of which we possess any record. Of this important event, however, I will say nothing further at present. A reasonably full account will be found in one of the later chapters.

Although I have spoken of the early and middle portions of the eighteenth century as constituting a barren or stagnant period in the history of medicine, I would not wish to convey to my readers the impression that it was a colorless and uneventful period. Far from it. There was nothing colorless, for example, in Hahnemann’s eventful career, and yet to all appearances he was not contributing in any way to the genuine and solid advance of the science of medicine. Then, again, Hufeland is not commonly supposed to have contributed in any material degree to the advance of medical science, and yet his “Makrobiotik,” his “Art of Prolonging Life,” is a veritable mine of useful information that the practitioner of medicine can scarcely afford to classify as trivial. Hufeland also deserves the credit of having founded one of the earliest medical journals, a periodical which still, in many of its numbers that were issued during the later years of the eighteenth century, furnishes reading matter that to-day possesses the power to entertain even a twentieth-century reader. At a somewhat later date (1779) J. Peter Frank founded the first journal or archives distinctly devoted to hygiene and medico-legal science. Farther on I will supply a few details concerning these two rather important contributions to medical knowledge.

Finally, there are a few men who, during this same relatively barren period of German medical science, made permanently valuable contributions to our stock of knowledge. Among these stands out conspicuously Johann Christian Reil (1759–1813). Although lack of space prevents me from doing anything like full justice to these worthy representatives of our profession, I will endeavor to furnish in the next chapter at least sufficient information concerning their work and characters to enable the reader to place them in their proper niches in the history of medicine.