The Transformation of German Academic Medicine, 1750-1820

220 Pages·1996·5.64 MB·English

by  Thomas H. Broman

The transformation of German academic
medicine, 1750—1820
Cambridge History of Medicine
Edited by
CHARLES ROSENBERG, Professor of History and Sociology of
Science, University of Pennsylvania
Other titles in the Series:
Health, medicine and morality in the sixteenth century EDITED BY
CHARLES WEBSTER
The Renaissance notion of woman: A study in the fortunes of scholasticism and medical
science in European intellectual life IAN MACLEAN
Mystical Bedlam: Madness, anxiety and healing in sixteenth-century England
MICHAEL MACDONALD
From medical chemistry to biochemistry: The making of a biomedical discipline
ROBERT E. KOHLER
Joan Baptista Van Helmont: Reformer of science and medicine
WALTER PAGEL
A generous confidence: Thomas Story Kirkbride and the art of asylum-keeping, 1840-
1883 NANCY TOMES
The cultural meaning of popular science: Phrenology and the organization of consent in
nineteenth-century Britain ROGER COOTER
Madness, morality and medicine: A study of the York Retreat, 1796-1914
ANNE DIGBY
Patients and practitioners: Lay perceptions of medicine in pre-industrial society
EDITED BY ROY PORTER
Hospital life in Enlightenment Scotland: Care and teaching at the Royal Infirmary of
Edinburgh GUENTER B. RISSE
Plague and the poor in Renaissance Florence ANNE G. CARMICHAEL
Victorian lunacy: Richard M. Bucke and the practice of late nineteenth-century
psychiatry s. E. D. SHORTT
Medicine and society in Wakefield and Huddersfield, 1780-1870
HILARY MARLAND
Ordered to care: The dilemma of American nursing, 1850-1945
SUSAN M. REVERBY
Morbid appearances: The anatomy ofp athology in the early nineteenth century
RUSSELL C. MAULITZ
Professional and popular medicine in France, 1770—1830: The social world of medical
practice MATTHEW RAMSEY
Abortion, doctors and the law: Some aspects of the legal regulation of abortion in
England, 1884—1984 DONALD DENOON
Health, race and German politics between national unification and Nazism, 1870—
1945 PAUL WEINDLING
The physician-legislators of France: Medicine and politics in the Early Third Republic,
187O-I914 JACK D. ELLIS
Continued on page following the Index
The transformation of
German academic medicine
1750-1820
THOMAS H. BROMAN
University of Wisconsin, Madison
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011-4211, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
Ruiz de Alarcon 13,28014 Madrid, Spain
Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa
http://www.cambridge.org
© Cambridge University Press 1996
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1996
First paperback edition 2002
Typeface Bembo.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Broman, Thomas Hoyt.
The transformation of German academic medicine, 1750-1820 / Thomas
H. Broman.
p. cm. - (Cambridge history of medicine)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0 521 55231 1 (hardcover)
1. Medicine - Germany - History - 18th century. 2. Medicine -
Germany - History - 19th century. 3. Physicians - Germany -
History - 18th century. 4. Physicians - Germany - History - 19th
century. I. Title. II. Series.
R510.B76 1996
610'.943'09033-dc20 95-48292 CIP
ISBN 0 521 55231 1 hardback
ISBN 0 52152457 1 paperback
Meinen verehrten Doktorvdter
Geison, Grafton, and Turner,
and
in memory of my real father,
who loved history
but preferred his with a little more action
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments page ix
Introduction i
1 Physicians in eighteenth-century Germany 13
2 Fractures and new alignments 42
3 Physicians and writers: Medical theory and the
emergence of the public sphere 73
4 The art of healing 102
5 Breaking the shackles of history: The Brunonian
revolution in Germany 128
6 German academic medicine during the reform era 159
Conclusion: Disciplines, professions, and the public
sphere 193
Index 203
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The completion of a book is the occasion for such an outpouring of relief and
gratitude that an author can scarcely resist the temptation to rattle on and on,
much like an Oscar winner at the Academy Awards. Fortunately, there is little
reason to resist, because the authors friends will eagerly search these lines for
proper recognition, and even readers who do not know the author personally will
be likely to take a look in search of clues to the author s scholarly alliances and
antipathies. In this respect, a books acknowledgments can be scrutinized much as
scholars of Soviet politics used to hunch over photos of the Politburo taken at the
annual May Day parade. On then with the show.
This book began a very long time ago, back in 1981 at Princeton University,
with a seminar on science in the German universities offered by R. Steven Turner.
The impetus to study German science and medicine came not just from the topic's
intrinsic interest, but also from Steve s detailed knowledge, critical judgment, and
humorous compassion. A second impetus came from Gerry Geison's suggestion
that I work on the conflict between clinical and scientific medicine, a suggestion
that has borne much fruit and continues even today to test my resourcefulness.
Tony Grafton added his knowledge of eighteenth-century intellectual history,
along with bountiful moral support.
A significant portion of the early research for this book was conducted with a
DAAD Fellowship in 1983—4, when I was extended the hospitality of Prof.
Heinrich Schipperges and the Institut fur Geschichte der Medizin at the Univer-
sity of Heidelberg. Most of the research on the eighteenth-century portions of the
book was conducted in 1989—90 while on an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at
Yale University. There I found a wonderful library collection and stimulating
conversation with Larry Holmes and John Warner, both of whom I am privileged
to number among my most valued colleagues. Finally, an Extramural Grant from
the National Library of Medicine (Number 5 Roi LMo 5 409-02) for the summers
of 1992 and 1993 allowed me to complete my archival research in Germany and
finish preparing the manuscript for submission.
A number of friends and colleagues have contributed substantially to this book.
Mary Lindemann and Mimi Wessling have given generously of their knowledge
x Acknowledgments
of the social history of medicine in eighteenth-century Germany, and I have
profited immeasurably from it. I have similarly profited from Lynn Nyhart and
Arleen Tuchman with respect to science and medicine in nineteenth-century
Germany. Judith Norman, Stuart Strickland, and Maria Trumpler came along at
a time in my life when I thought I would never see my way through the murky
depths of Naturphilosophie and gave me heart to persevere. Louise Robbins read
through the completed manuscript and made numerous stylistic improvements.
Finally, it will be evident to anyone who reads this book how deeply indebted I
am to the work of Anthony La Vopa, whose portrait of students trying to make
their way in clerical careers crystallized my own dim understanding of what Beruf
meant in early modern Germany. I have never met Tony La Vopa, but more than
any single person he has shaped my thinking about the medical profession in the
eighteenth century.
One of the pleasures of working in Madison is the abundance of stimulating
colleagues found here. I mention most especially Klaus Berghahn and Nancy
Kaiser in the German Department, Suzanne Desan and David Sorkin in History,
and Michael Shank and Harold Cook in my own department, History of Science.
Hal Cook deserves special mention for having patiently endured many hours of
my pestering him for his thoughts about the early modern medical profession, and
I gratefully acknowledge his contributions. Hal would not endorse everything I
say here about the professions, I suspect, but my thinking about physicians in early
modern Europe has benefitted greatly from his work.
When I began my graduate study in history of science, I encountered two
people who are both personal friends and stimulating colleagues. John Carson is
sui generis, as anyone who knows him can attest. Possessed of the sharpest critical
faculty I have ever encountered, John is at the same time a kind and compassionate
person. He makes the scholarly life both provocative and comfortable. Peter Dear
recently described me affectionately as a thorn in his side; here I happily return
the compliment. After all, it was after an argument with Peter about Kuhn's
Structure of Scientific Revolutions that I was first convinced to go to Princeton. Since
then I continued to profit from Peter s insight and ability to wear simultaneously
the hats of historian, philosopher, and sociologist of knowledge. Many people talk
about integrated science studies, or "cultural studies" of science, to use the
currently fashionable term: Peter is one of the few to actually produce such a
thing.
Many people have patiently endured the slow metamorphosis of my dissertation
into this book, but none more patiently than Lynn Nyhart. Her task has been a
difficult one, as colleague, critic, and partner, but Lynn has accomplished it with
deep reserves of intelligence and affection. Most marvelous of all has been her
willingness to continue reading my prose and criticize it honestly and effectively,
even though she knew that what I wanted to be told was that it was perfect.
Treacherous work indeed, but she has done it and created a protected space where
doubt and despair found no entrance.