Christian Ernst Endter

Christian Ernst Endter , (born  August 16, 1693 in Großmölsen ; † September 30, 1775 in Altona ) was a doctor and writer in Hamburg and Altona .

Life

Endter was on August 16, 1693, the son of Großmölsen from Schmalkalden native local pastor born Johann Balthasar Endter (1640-1705). His youth was marked by the early death of his father, after which the family with ten children lived in abject poverty.

After attending school in Quedlinburg , Endter became coin inspector of the Duchy of Saxony-Eisenach in 1729, with his official seat in Eisenach .

Since he did not like life at court, he began to study medicine in order to help the poor with this knowledge. When he established his actual calling in this, he began to systematically take private lessons from experienced doctors. The pharmaceutical experiments that he carried out on the side in his study as a coin inspector earned him a report from his mint master.

In the end he could no longer hold out in his position and managed to move to Hamburg, where he became an agent for the Duke of Saxony-Eisenach in 1730. Before him, this position was held by none other than Georg Philipp Telemann , who gave up the position for financial reasons.

Endter uses the position as a ducal agent to pursue his medical studies further. After the birth of his sons Christian Friedrich (later organist in Buxtehude and Altona) and Conrad Ernst (later doctor in Buxtehude), Endter moved to Hamburger Berg, today's St. Pauli , in 1733 , where he began his work as a general practitioner.

From his published case descriptions it can be seen that he mainly treated simple people: workers, farmers and many craftsmen, but also merchants and traders are named. In addition, Endter's focus is on the poor. He wrote that he made it his duty to treat three arms for free every day and to provide them with medication.

In 1741 Endter published the first of his eleven books and moved to neighboring Altona , where he continued his medical practice. After the death of his first wife, Endter married a second time in 1768 at the age of 74. He died on September 30, 1775 in Altona at the age of 82.

Famous patients

According to his own statements, Endter counted among his prominent patients Duchess Anna Sophie von Sachsen-Eisenach, the wife of Duke Wilhelm-Heinrich , Landgrave Karl von Hessen-Philippsthal and even Emperor Karl VII .

Work and meaning

Christian Ernst Endter is certainly not one of the best-known personalities in German medical history , but his literary work comprising eleven titles and his highly unusual path to becoming a doctor make it worthwhile to deal with him.

His writings show the attempt of a practitioner who has not studied or who has studied himself to make a contribution to the further development of medicine by publishing his knowledge. Endter, whom some classify among the quackery and who is nevertheless successfully active in royal houses, steps out of the gray mass of uneducated medical practitioners with his work by trying to pass on his knowledge. In doing so, he testifies to an unexpectedly high medical ethos and an urge to research and educate that this group of medical professionals is generally not expected to be capable of.

His unusual life shows a man between two ages, between the Baroque and the Enlightenment , between humoral pathology and new ideas, who takes a committed stand against the grievances of his time. If his medical work is not very significant, it does shed light on part of German medical history.

Works

Endter published a total of eleven books between 1741 and 1770, often at his own expense, nine of which have survived to this day. At least three of the works have been published several times, one has been translated into Swedish .

Six of the books were purely medical frameworks addressed to other doctors. A publication is a defense in which he defends himself against a critical comment. Two publications deal with the medical profession and medicine in general, while two other books are aimed at a broad lay public to educate them about the benefits and possibilities of healthy living. Endter wrote the last-named group under pseudonyms .

The most important old editions in the original text:

• "Detailed report of the painful limb diseases, namely: Gout, Podagra, Chirargra, Malo ischiatico, and what is pending", self-published, printed by JA Hiltemann, 1st edition, Frankfurt 1741, 189 p. (1750 translated into Swedish)

• "Collections of hidden and open cancer, Noli me tangere, wolf, fistulas and eating damage", printed by Ph. Ludwig Stromer, Hamburg 1745, 752 p., 2nd edition Hamburg 1753

• "The great misery and ruin among Christians, through beer, wine and brandy, when such drinks are not properly prepared and enjoyed", under the pseudonym Cyriacus Ericus Erdmann, Frankfurt 1751, 104 pp.

• “Brief conception of the ancient and very latest internal and external true healing art, by virtue of which all diseases that affect the human body can be cured with easy effort; deme are added real and right means, together with credible testimonials, as well as an addition of fake drinks, which lead to grave before time ”, printed by Hertel, Hamburg 1753, 318 p.

• "The brightly shining glasses in front of those who need them on healthy and sick days, especially through them to recognize the true doctors, their necessity and high dignity, as well as the bungler and the quack their evil works, whereby the resp. Kings and princes suffer irreplaceable damage, and their loyal subjects are deprived of health and money, consequently being buried before the time God has appointed. Presented out of heartfelt compassion and for the preservation of those very noble creatures of God. ”, Printed by Hertel, Hamburg 1756, 246 pp.

• "Thorough refutation that Herr Raths and Doctoris Ailhoud's, black Purgir powder, after its forgiveness, could not possibly be a universal medicine, or a general remedy against all diseases", Frankfurt 1757, 105 pp.

• "The high dignity of true doctors, whose art is one of the very noblest, most important, most necessary and most beneficial before kings and princes, who were so loved by their high ancestors that they, in part, themselves and their wives, counselors, Officials, mayors, councilors, as well as priests, have trained in it, and have the medicamenta made distributed among the poor. The encore is about 1. the improvement of some medications, 2. urine and universal narcotics, 3. wrong drinks that kill people too early, 4. about coincidences that are considered incurable and yet are not, 5. From the so necessary peace of mind and proper care for the sick, 6. From the ingratitude and poor payment to the Medicos. ”, Frankfurt and Leipzig 1760, 86 pp.

• “The hundred years of age that a man and two women have passed by God's grace, all three of whom are still alive. Advice and deeds are given at the same time as to how, according to the example of our fathers, with a proper way of life, calmness of mind and moderate work, one can also become very old and experience child-child-children, and indeed according to the will of the very highest, who everything up to and including for his specific time ”, 1st edition under the pseudonym:“ Chrysostomus Erasmus Ehrlichmann ”, Frankfurt and Leipzig 1761, 114 p., 2nd edition ibid. 1764 under his own name

• "The long-desired cure of the so terrible and incurable by many of the Scharbock, by a few, but certain, certain, and not at all valuable means", in Hertel's blessed widow u. Gleditsch, Hamburg 1764, 176 pp.

• "Compulsory answer and definition to the new writers in Berlin, who in their General German Library offended me for my honor and who criticized my Scharbocks book without cause", Altona 1767 (lost)

• "Resonance in the Arzeney school because of wrong and poisonous means, which up to now have been used by botchers, to irreplaceable damage to their respective kings and princes, and especially each one", in Caspar Christoph Eckstorff, Altona 1770, 112 p.

literature

• Andreas Schwander: Life and work of the doctor Christian Ernst Endter (1693–1775), DissMed, Göttingen 1991