Hermann Brehmer

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Hermann Brehmer

Hermann Brehmer (born August 14, 1826 in Kurtsch, today Kurczów , near Strehlen, today Strzelin , † December 23, 1889 in Görbersdorf, today Sokołowsko ) was a Silesian doctor who founded the first German sanatorium for the systematic open-air therapy of pulmonary tuberculosis .

Life

Brehmer was born in Kurtsch near Strehlen in Prussian Silesia, the son of an estate agent. After graduating from Elisabeth High School in Breslau, he studied mathematics, astronomy and natural sciences at the University of Breslau from 1847 to 1850 . In February 1850 Brehmer was a voting delegate at the congress of the workers' brotherhood in Leipzig . Together with Louis Heilberg in 1850, he was one of the leading members of the Wroclaw community of the Communist League . In 1850 he went to the herbarium in Berlin . Under the influence of the physiologist Johannes Müller , who was teaching at the Humboldt University in Berlin at the time, he switched from studying mathematics to studying medicine. His dissertation, published in 1853, was entitled De legibus ad initium atque progressum tuberculosis pulmonum spectantibus (On the laws of the development and progression of tuberculosis in the lungs). She expressed his confidence that he could cure tuberculosis in its early stages. His plan to open a sanatorium exclusively for tuberculosis patients initially met with official resistance, which, however, was overcome thanks to the support of Alexander von Humboldt and Johann Lukas Schönlein . In 1853, Brehmer was also elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy .

He was married to Amalie von Colomb (1810–1866), daughter of the District President Ludwig von Colomb . She was also the younger sister of Marianna von Colomb (1808–1868), who ran the hydrotherapy institute in Görbersdorf.

The Brehmer'sche sanatorium for lung patients in Görbersdorf

On July 2, 1854, Brehmer was able to open the Brehmersche Heilanstalt for lung patients in the Silesian Görbersdorf (then a village with 900 inhabitants) . He exposed his patients extensively to the fresh mountain air with good nutrition. After an early breakfast, the sick spent the whole day outdoors. At night the curtainless windows were open; heating was only permitted when dressed. The sanatorium began with a small group of houses, but grew to 300 beds. The success exceeded all previous treatment methods.

Brehmer's work was supported by one of his patients, Dr. Peter Dettweiler (1837–1904), continued. In 1876 he founded his own sanatorium, the Falkenstein sanatorium in the Taunus. However, Dettweiler set his own accents and emphasized rest instead of movement. The successes of Brehmer and Dettweiler attracted international attention and found imitators such as the American doctor Edward Livingston Trudeau .

  • Dr. Peter Dettweiler was a patient at a young age and later an assistant doctor in Görbersdorf.

  • Brehmer'sche Heilanstalt Görbersdorf around 1870

  • Brehmer'sche Heilanstalt Görbersdorf

Brehmer's treatment principles

"We now turn to the description of the treatment method used in the sanatorium in Görbersdorf and what is related to it. Since Görbersdorf is not one of the so-called bathing or climatic health resorts in the usual sense, a certain" season "does not take place here, as elsewhere, which lasts from about mid-May to the end of September, but you can find admission to the sanatorium all year round, although we have to admit that the summer months are the time of the highest frequency. Patients can therefore be admitted at any time, but since the early spring Consumption usually makes the greatest progress, so it is in any case advisable, if the weather permits it, to go to the sanatorium in Gärborsdorf as early as possible, so that the most dangerous time for the patient can be spent in the healing center Spending two days in Görbersdorf and recovering a little from the rigors of the journey, that's how he succeeds The first examination of the patient by the doctor in charge, Dr. Brehmer; after about eight days often a second one, carried out by one of the three assistant doctors, Dr. Dettweiler, Dr. Greveler or Dr. Sokolowski. During these first examinations, the person concerned receives from Dr. Brehmer also gave instructions about his behavior, about staying in the fresh air, whether in the sunny or shady forest air, about climbing the mountains and extending the walks, which can easily be determined by the doctors, since most places are gradually with different names are u. like m.
Visiting the inn is strictly forbidden; on the one hand, because one thereby diminishes the so necessary stay in the fresh, beneficial mountain air and instead inhales the harmful air of the beer-houses, filled with tobacco smoke and other harmful fumes; On the other hand, because it is not uncommon for the sick to easily disregard their condition and to enjoy beer until late at night, which of course means that they make a serious mistake in the prescribed way of life, not just interrupting their healing, but also possibly impossible do. That is why one cannot advise a patient with breast disease urgently enough to follow the prescriptions of the doctors with the strictest conscientiousness. Too often a small mistake takes revenge with the worst possible consequences. However, if someone cannot control his nature so much, but has to indulge in extravagance, he will later be honest enough to attribute the failure of his cure to himself and not, as unfortunately happens often enough, to the sanatorium. Anyone who cannot obey the medical regulations at all should reasonably forego a favorable cure success from the outset and not visit a psychiatric institution. "

Works

  • The laws and curability of chronic tuberculosis of the lungs. Contribution to pathological physiology . Th. Ch. F. Enslin, Berlin 1856.
  • Chronic pulmonary consumption, its cause and its cure. For non-prejudiced doctors and educated thinking laypeople . Th. Ch. F. Enslin, Berlin 1857.
  • Chronic pulmonary consumption and tuberculosis of the lungs. Its cause and its cure . 2., reworked. Ed. Th. Ch. F. Enslin, Berlin 1869. Digitized
  • Contributions to the theory of chronic pulmonary consumption in the form of a response to the attacks by Dr. L. Rohden (in Lippspringe) against the author and his work . Maruschke & Berendt, Breslau 1876. Digitized
  • The etiology of chronic pulmonary consumption, from the standpoint of clinical experience . August Hirschwald, Berlin 1885. Digitized
  • The immunity of mountain dwellers from chronic pulmonary consumption . In: Negotiations of the X Silesian Bathing Day . Schirmer, Glatz 1885.
  • The therapy of chronic pulmonary consumption . JF Bergmann, Wiesbaden 1889. Digitized

literature

  • Reinhold Ortmann: Görbersdorf. Dr. Brehmer's sanatorium for lung patients . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1884. (= European hiking pictures 34/35)
  • C. Flügge : Obituary to Dr. Hermann Brehmer . In: Communications from Dr. Brehmer's sanatorium for lung patients in Göbersdorf . JF Bergmann, Wiesbaden 1890, pp. VII-XXXI. Digitized
  • Wilhelm Achtermann: Dr. Brehmer's lung sanatorium Görbersdorf in Silesia, head physician Dr. Wilhelm Achtermann , Rud. Loes, Leipzig undated (1894)
  • Julius Pagel :  Brehmer, Hermann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 47, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1903, p. 216 f.
  • Carl Draut: Reminder words to Dr. Hermann Brehmer. Spoken after that of Geh. Council Professor Dr. von Leyden on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Dr. Brehmer'schen pulmonary sanatorium in Görbersdorf in Silesia on July 2, 1904 held the ceremonial speech . Walter, Friedland 1904.
  • Sigard Adolphus Knopf, Hermann Brehmer, and the semi-centennial celebration of Brehmer's sanatorium for the treatment of consumptives, the first institution of its kind (July 2, 1854-July 2, 1904) , [1]
  • Julius Busch: Hermann Brehmer . In: Schlesische Lebensbilder. Volume 1. Silesians of the 19th century . Korn, Breslau 1922, p. 55 ff.
  • Walter Schmidt: Hermann Brehmer (1826-1889). The path of a Silesian forty-eight radical democrat to the founder of modern tuberculosis treatment . In: Actors of a Change . Fides, Berlin 2010, pp. 179-221. ISBN 978-3-931363-15-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Julius Leopold Pagel: Brehmer, Hermann. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , Volume 47, 1903, pp. 216-217, digitized version at www.deutsche-biographie.de, accessed on July 6, 2020
  2. ↑ a b c d Knopf, SA (1904), Hermann Brehmer and the semi-centennial celebration of Brehmer's sanatorium for the treatment of consumptives; the first institution of its kind , New York Medical Journal / Philadelphia Medical Journal.
  3. ↑ The League of Communists. Documents and materials . Volume 2. 1849-1851 . Editors Herwig Förder, Martin Hundt , Jefim Kandel, Sofia Leviowa. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1982, p. 592.
  4. ↑ Karl Marx to Hermann Brehmer. May 6, 1849; The League of Communists. Documents and materials . Volume 2. 1849-1851 . P. 657.
  5. ^ A b McCarthy, OR (August 2001), The key to the sanatoria , Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. PMC 1281640 (free full text)
  6. ^ Open-air treatment of phthisis , British Medical Journal, November 16, 1889.
  7. ↑ Text from: Busch, HK (1875): The Görbersdorfer Heilanstalt of Dr. H. Brehmer - Berlin: Enslin. IV. Chapter. Facilities of the sanatorium of Dr. Brehmer.
personal data
SURNAME Brehmer, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor, founder of an open-air sanatorium for tuberculosis sufferers
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH Kurtsch, today Kurczów
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1889
Place of death Görbersdorf, today Sokołowsko