Heinrich Martius (medic, 1781)

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Heinrich von Martius

Gustav Heinrich von Martius (born December 28, 1781 in Radeberg ; † August 4, 1831 in Berlin ) was a German doctor , scientist , author and chronicler .

Life

Heinrich Martius was the second son of the Radeberger city pharmacist and city ​​judge Johann Samuel Heinrich Martius (born June 9, 1746 in Marktredwitz ; † March 20, 1821 in Radeberg) and his wife Rosine Sophie born. Schuchardt (1760–1831) born. He attended the Radeberg city school and then learned ancient languages and preparatory sciences at the grammar school in Freiberg until 1796 . At the same time he attended lectures on the necessary auxiliary sciences such as chemistry , metallurgy , mineralogy , physics , technology , mathematics and botany at the Electoral Saxon Mining Academy in Freiberg for the desired profession of medicine . From 1797 Martius was in Frankenberg with the doctor and pharmacist Christian Gottlieb Weinart (1754-1834), a son of the theologian Benjamin Gottfried Weinart , in the practical training of pharmacist science . Due to a serious illness in his father, Martius returned to Radeberg in 1800. In 1801 he began his studies in Wittenberg .

After graduating in 1804, he was called to Russia . He worked as a sub-supervisor at the Imperial Russian Historical Museum in Moscow , which belonged to the Lomonosov University in Moscow , and at the same time as a librarian at the Demidov Library , founded in 1803 . In 1805 he was one of the 25 founders of the " Moscow Society of Natural Scientists ", which in 1806 was elevated to the rank of "Imperial Society" by Ukas Alexander I. Already in 1806 a doctorate Martius in Moscow by " exam rigorosum " Doctor of Medicine. With this academic degree as Dr. med. He was equated by the Senate as a civil person, according to the Russian rank table of Peter the Great , the 8th rank of the Russian nobility , with which he was allowed to wear a uniform and drive a carriage and had to be addressed with "His / Your Highly Born".

Martius remained a member of Moscow University. In the following years he undertook natural history trips to several governorates of the Russian Empire in the summer months, during the university holidays, and began collecting rare plants and animals. At the same time he worked on his travels as a doctor in the treatment of malignant diseases such as leprosy , smallpox and bubonic plague (Krimm's disease) in areas of the Tartars and Cossacks .

From 1808 he became the personal physician of important Russian personalities, in 1808 with Prince Wolchonsky, whom Martius accompanied on a trip to Siberia . In 1809 he traveled to the Ukraine with Prince Trubezkoi as his personal physician . In 1810 he looked after Prince Dolgoruki as a doctor on spa trips to the Caucasus . Then he was appointed personal physician to the Russian Imperial Minister, Count Alexei Kyrillowitsch Razumovsky , who was one of the highest politicians and promoter of science. This activity as personal physician for the Razumovsky family was connected with the management as senior physician of the Razumovsky hospitals , which were located on his estates in the Penza and Saratov Governments .

Martius was in recognition of his services to the development of the Russian Empire, his participation in the surveying and description of the Moscow Governorate with the astronomer Christian Friedrich Goldbach (1763-1811), his missions in infected areas and his results in the medical and botanical field of Russia in the Raised nobility with a nobility diploma and title "von Martius".

Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812 with the fire in Moscow in September 1812 changed Martius' life. He lost everything, his scientific work, his fortune, his extensive library, all of his valuable and unique collections.

Rasumowski granted Martius a 6-month vacation in 1815 so that after 12 years he could visit his family and publish some literary works in Germany. At the request of his family, however, Martius gave up his job in Russia and stayed in Saxony .

In 1816 Martius received his doctorate for the second time. At the University of Leipzig he was named "Doctor of Medicine & Surgery" with his dissertation De lepra taurica . Martius dedicated the accompanying document under the same title to Count Razumovsky.

In the same year Martius settled in Bautzen as a “ general practitioner ” and in 1818 married Friederike Emilie Auguste Probst, the daughter of the Bautzen senator and senior attorney August Probst (1770–1833), in the evangelical section of Bautzen Cathedral .

In 1818 Martius followed a call to Nossen as “ City Physicus ” and was there responsible for the Nossen district. From there he went to Berlin in 1828. On August 4, 1831, he died in Berlin from the river blow .

On December 1, 1831, a public auction of Martius' book collection took place in Berlin , together with the collections of Ernst Gottfried Fischer and Friedrich Leopold Brunn.

Act

medicine

Martius wrote numerous medical works during his time in Moscow. The main topics were treatises on infectious diseases in humans, skin diseases , gynecology and general health. A work on obstetrics , translated from Chinese by Martius , contributed to the scientific popularization of this topic in German-speaking countries. In particular, his experience gained in Russia over 12 years in dealing with the diseases typical in the harsh continental climate and their treatment, largely with naturopathic remedies that are common there , were useful in the preparation of his medical works. In a book about the prevention and treatment of frostbite , he incorporated the experience and knowledge of the Russian (also other Nordic) ethnic groups, as well as the decades of experience and knowledge of his father as a town pharmacist in Radeberg.

Following the zeitgeist of the time, Martius also wrote a book in 1822 on the medical aspects of “maintaining health and beauty, especially for educated women”, which, however, received different reviews.

Scientific work

The Botany was interesting for Martius mainly because of the herbal ingredients. He had already acquired extensive knowledge of this from childhood in his father's "Apothecary's Garden" in Radeberg. Martius wrote works on the complex occurrence of plants that are particularly interesting and important for medicine, e.g. B. to the Altenzella monastery (b. Nossen): A contribution to the story of prehistoric times (in two parts), Prodromus florae Mosquensis (history of the flora of the Moscow region, in Latin) and other works on the flora of Russia.

Historical work

With its published 1828 book Radeberg and its surroundings - A historical sketch created Martius first comprehensive, historically informed and profound chronicle Radeberg and Radeberger country that to this day as a standard factory local history for the early period to the early modern period applies and has supraregional importance.

His translation of Tacitus , published in Moscow in 1812, is also noteworthy : On the situation, customs and peoples of Germania .

Works (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hendrik Martius: Martius family history; Digital sheets of the Martius family from Asch / Egerland. Online resource
  2. ↑ a b c d Renate Schönfuß-Krause: Dr. Heinrich von Martius - A Radeberger Career in Moscow. In: the Radeberger. Independent local newspaper. Volume 29, Issue 16. Radeberg April 18, 2019. Online resource
  3. ↑ Radeberger Chronik 1550-1839 . Handwritten manuscript. Archive no. 00003476. Museum Schloss Klippenstein Radeberg
  4. ^ The learned Teutschland or Lexicon of the now living German writers . Eighteenth volume. Ed. Johann Samuel Publ. Published by Meyersche Hofbuchhandlung 1821. S. 632. Online resource
  5. ^ Heinrich von Martius: De lepra taurica. Dissertation. Stabitz, Leipzig 1816. Online resource . OCLC 1071267361
  6. ^ Auction catalog , CF Müller, Berlin 1831
  7. ↑ Heinrich Martius: Treatise on the chilblains and their medical treatment . Berlin 1831. Fried. Aug. Herbig. Online resource . OCLC 956538768
  8. ^ Medicinisch-chirurgische Zeitung, second volume . Pages 343 ff. Ed. Dr. Johann Nepomuk Erhardt. Innsbruck 1823. Online resource
  9. ↑ Charlotte Rinkefeil-Kirchner: Chronicle of the health system of the city of Radeberg from the earliest beginnings to 1945 . Volume II The pharmacies. Radeberg 1967. Saxon State and University Library Dresden
  10. ↑ Dr. FLA Schweiger: Handbook of Classical Bibliography, Second Part, Second Section . Leipzig 1834. With Friedrich Fleischer. Online resource
personal data
SURNAME Martius, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Martius, Gustav Heinrich von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor, scientist and chronicler
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH Radeberg
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1831
Place of death Berlin