Gottfried Eisenmann

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Gottfried Eisenmann
Honorary grave in the main cemetery in Würzburg

Johann Gottfried Eisenmann (born May 20, 1795 in Würzburg ; † March 23, 1867 there ) was a German doctor , politician , political publicist and medical writer .

life and work

Johann Gottfried Eisenmann, son of a Würzburg master shoemaker, began studying general science in the Philosophical Faculty at the University of Würzburg in 1810 , graduating with success and then devoted himself to studying law from autumn 1812.

In 1814 he joined the volunteer hunter battalion, was Fourier , and later in the 12th Bavarian Line Infantry Regiment battalion calculator. When he was released from the army at the end of 1816, he began studying medicine. In 1820 he completed his medical studies with a doctorate and state examination, initially worked as an assistant doctor at the Würzburg Poor Institute and from 1823 in his own practice. In Johann Lukas Schönlein's clinic in the Würzburg Juliusspital , Eisenmann got to know his teaching on natural history, followed it up and defended it throughout his life against other medical views, sometimes even polemically, such as against the school based on Schelling's natural philosophy, but also in his 1842/45 Confrontation with Wilhelm Griesinger . For the Natural History School (1825–1845), observation was the first and most important source of nosology . The scales, the electrometer, the chemical reagent apparatus, the microscope - all these things were of great importance to her. In 1830 Eisenmann's book Der Tripper in all its forms and all its consequences appeared in Würzburg . The topic is dealt with comprehensively: own experiences and works of other authors are taken into account, symptoms course and therapy are presented. The work with which Eisenmann established his medical reputation was The Vegetative Diseases and the Detoxifying Healing Method , which he completed in the fourth year of his pre-trial detention in Munich (Erlangen 1835). Here he presented his teaching, which finds its special expression in his nosological system and in the detoxifying healing method. Eisenmann distinguished between the artificial and the natural disease systems. The artificial systems were generally assigned a single characteristic as the reason for classification, e.g. B. a) according to the duration of the illness: acute or chronic b) according to the location, i.e. the body parts (according to him the worst for scientific purposes) c) according to chemical considerations: acidic or basic nature of the pathological secretions d) according to physiological principles: through external ones and causes internal stimuli; Diseases of sensitive, irritable and reproductive functions; as diseases of the blood or vegetation.

Eisenmann was of the opinion: life in itself is one and indivisible. The human organism shows three dimensions: 1. A certain shape, analogous to fossils and crystals. 2. an activity that maintains the metabolism in the plant world (vegetative). 3. Functions of independence and freedom (sensitive and spiritual). Similarly, he distinguished three classes of diseases: Class I: diseases of crystallization, anatomical diseases, morphoses. II. Class: diseases of vegetation, phytoses or vegetative diseases. III. Class: Diseases of animalization, neuroses or sensitive diseases. This implementation of Eisenmann's disease system naturally shows the advantages and flaws of every strict and consistent system. Although Eisenmann was not yet completely free of natural philosophical ideas, his awareness of the limitations of his knowledge and the possibility of erring, as well as his observation and ordering, shows a striving for a scientific basis for medicine. In 1835 E. stressed the importance of auscultation and percussion. In his work Die Wundfieber und die Kindbettfieber (Erlangen 1837) he named the infection of the wound surface of the uterus as the cause. He lacked practical experience for further conclusions. Finally, Eisenmann pointed out the importance of the autopsy findings. B. in his pamphlet against Griesinger and in his book Die Hirner Weichung (144 pages, Leipzig) , published in 1842 . The natural history school, and with it E., recognized the infection as being associated with “Contagium animatum”, as a living matter capable of reproduction. The contagia should be killed by disinfection. Because Eisenmann declared that the main task of the doctor was to remove the disease toxin (as the cause of the disease) from the body. To her he dedicated the detoxifying healing method, for the training of which he wanted to give hints with his writing. Clinical observations and experiments were the ways that he demanded for the further training of his specific healing method.

Eisenmann is a mediator whose path leads from parasitic over nosological-classificatory medicine to scientific-diagnostic medicine. During his more than fifteen years imprisonment under strict conditions and with poor health, Eisenmann had little opportunity to practice and even after that he was never given a medical position or lectures. After resigning from the National Assembly, Eisenmann devoted himself to medical writing, as he did during his imprisonment. Among other things, he published the annual report on the achievements and progress of all medicine from 1843 to 1850 with Carl Friedrich Canstatt , after his death alone, and from 1853 together with Rudolf Virchow and Johann Joseph von Scherer , for which Eisenmann also wrote numerous articles himself. Due to illness he had to give up the post of editor in charge of the annual reports in 1866.

In 1848 Eisenmann had married his childhood sweetheart Anna Maria Margarethe Eleonore Kiffert; the marriage remained childless. He died on the afternoon of March 23, 1867 and was buried in the Würzburg cemetery.

Political career

In 1817, Eisenmann took part in the Wartburg Festival and received the impetus there to found the first Würzburg fraternity . Together with former Jena fraternity members, he represented the fraternity parties in the Bavaria student union and on June 27, 1818 founded the Germania fraternity in Würzburg , which initially had 131 members. After their ban in 1819 , he belonged to the secret youth league from 1821 to 1823 , at whose conferences he spoke out as a spokesman for bringing about unity and freedom in Germany not through violence, but through persuasion by influencing the people through speech and writing. As a result of a denunciation by the theology student Dietz, Eisenmann was arrested on March 19, 1824 in Würzburg and was remanded in custody in Munich for thirteen months until he was released by a court judgment. However, Eisenmann was still under police supervision and was not allowed to stay in university towns for a year. So he practiced in 1825 first in Hammelburg and finally until 1832 in Würzburg.

Since January 1829, Eisenmann was, alongside Professors Johann Adam von Seuffert and Sebald Brendel, co-editor of, among other things, the “Bayerische Volksblatt” published in Würzburg, an “independent” opposition paper that campaigned for freedom of the press and was the main body of the liberals in Bavaria . As a result of the Bavarian censorship ordinance of 1831, he intensified his opposition. His participation in the Hambach Festival in 1832 and the constitution festival in Gaibach gave the government occasion to intervene again against Eisenmann, who was demonstratively referred to by his supporters as the "Franconian Duke" and had always been watched by the police. In 1832 the newspaper was banned and Eisenmann was again in custody in Munich from September 21, 1832 to 1836. In 1836 he was convicted of high treason - committed by writing and disseminating subversive writings - and libel of majesty to a prison sentence of indefinite duration. Until his pardon in 1847, he served this first in the Veste Oberhaus near Passau , in 1843/44 temporarily at the Wülzburg near Weißenburg , where the harsh climate particularly affected him, and finally in the fortress Rosenberg near Kronach . In March 1848, after the fall of Ludwig I, Eisenmann was fully rehabilitated and received compensation from the Bavarian state on July 4, 1848, by resolution of the meeting of the estates.

Of his numerous political writings, two were particularly widespread:

  • the ideas published in 1848 for a German Reich constitution , where he spoke out, among other things, for a German federal state with a changing head and for ministerial responsibility towards the People's Chamber
  • the political creed of Dr. Eisenmann , in which he spoke out in favor of the formation of insurance companies to support workers in the event of illness, incapacity for work and undeserved unemployment. In 1848 Eisenmann von Nürnberg , who had made him an honorary citizen, was sent to the pre-parliament , which also sent him to the committee of the 1950s . From May 18, 1848 to May 30, 1849, Eisenmann was a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly for Würzburg , from May 19, 1848, he was part of the revision commission for preliminary discussions on the contracts concluded by the preparatory commission, and from May 23, 1848, he was part of the central committee for Examination of the elections. First he joined the casino , but described himself as non-party, switched from the right center to the left and finally became a board member of the Central March Association . In Frankfurt Eisenmann remained true to his liberal, constitutional-monarchical sentiments with the main goal of a federal unification of Germany and voted against the election of the Prussian king as emperor of the Germans.

Exposed to attacks from the right and left, viewed as a “eccentric and political recluse”, he spoke out against a hereditary empire and against the relocation of parliament to Stuttgart and resigned his mandate before the latter.

Fonts (selection)

  • About successful treatment of a peeling epidemic. 1828.
  • Public reply from Dr. Eisenmann on one of Prof. Dr. Vend received letter. Richter, Würzburg 1829.
  • Dr. Eisenmann's public correspondence with his friend and benefactor, Prof. Dr. Vend. 2. Büch'l, which at the same time d. Contains section report on the master locksmith Debon. Richter, Würzburg 1829.
  • The gonorrhea in all its forms and all its consequences. Wuerzburg 1830.
  • The puerperal fever. An attempt at natural history. Erlangen 1834.
  • The Pyra disease family. (Mucosal eruptions), 2 volumes. Erlangen 1834.
  • The vegetative diseases and the detoxifying healing method. Erlangen 1835.
  • The typhus disease family. Wuerzburg 1835.
  • The Cholesis disease family. Wuerzburg 1836.
  • The softening of the brain. Leipzig 1942.
  • Annual reports on the achievements and progress of all medicine. 1843-1866.
  • Ideas for a German Reich constitution. Erlangen 1848.
  • The political creed of Dr. Iron man. (1848).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. in: Mainfränkische Hefte No. 49, Volkach 1967.
  2. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, pp. 11 and 18.
  3. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, pp. 69 and 91.
  4. ^ Johanna Bleker : Natural History School. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1027 f.
  5. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 72.
  6. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 73.
  7. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 74.
  8. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 75.
  9. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 76 f.
  10. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 79.
  11. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 84.
  12. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 80.
  13. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 91.
  14. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 95.
  15. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 92 f.
  16. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 97.
  17. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967, p. 103.
  18. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. p. 58.
  19. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795–1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. p. 65.
  20. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. p. 13.
  21. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. p. 14.
  22. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch until 1933. Ph. CW Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 1950, p. 623 f.
  23. ↑ Michael Dirrigl: Maximilian II, King of Bavaria, 1848-1864, part 1 . Hugendubel Heinrich GmbH, 1984, ISBN 978-3-88034-182-1 , p. 265 ( online at: books.google.de ).
  24. ^ Sybille Grübel: Timeline of the history of the city from 1814-2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1225-1247; here: p. 1227.
  25. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. pp. 34-52.
  26. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. p. 58.
  27. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. p. 56.
  28. ↑ Hans Hoffmann: Johann Gottfried Eisenmann. (1795 –1867) A Franconian doctor and freedom fighter. In: Mainfränkische Hefte. No. 49, Volkach 1967. pp. 54 f.
  29. ↑ Walther Schönfeld:  Eisenmann, Johann Gottfried. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 418 f. ( Digitized version ).
  30. ^ Theodor Husemann:  Eisenmann, Gottfried . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 770-772.

Web links

Wikisource: Gottfried Eisenmann  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Eisenmann, Gottfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eisenmann, Johann Gottfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor, politician, publicist
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1795
PLACE OF BIRTH Wurzburg
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1867
Place of death Wurzburg