Johann Sigismund Elsholtz

Johann Sigismund Elsholtz

Johann Sigismund Elsholtz , also: Elßholtz, Elßholz, Elsholz, Latinized : Elsholtius , u. a., (born August 26, 1623 in Frankfurt an der Oder ; † February 28, 1688 in Berlin ) was a German doctor, botanist, chemist and naturalist . He was "Hofmedicus", "Hofbotanicus" and alchemist at the court of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg . Elsholtz is considered to be one of the most important German scholars of the natural sciences of the 17th century.

Life

Initially, Elsholtz was council secretary in Frankfurt (Oder). In 1640 he married Elisabeth, née Stymmel, daughter of the university professor Benedikt Stymmel (also: Stummel, Stummelius). Later he married Anna Guttwill, the daughter of Caspar Guttwill from Küstrin (* 1630, † 1663; temporarily married to the electoral Brandenburg doctor Friedrich Möller).

Elsholtz was interested in many things and worked in the fields of horticulture, botany, alchemy, astrology, nutrition and medicine. In 1653 he obtained his doctorate in the latter area in Padua, one of the most prestigious universities of that time in Europe. On May 24, 1674 Elsholtz became a member of the “Societas naturae curiosorum” founded in 1652 (also: Collegium naturae curiosorum; today “German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina ”). Many of his works have been published by the Leopoldina.

During his lifetime he enjoyed a great reputation in science. He was in contact with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , Albrecht von Haller and the theologian and orientalist Andreas Müller, among others .

Elsholtz as Botanicus

A significant change had taken place in the Central European garden flora in the decades before: Large pleasure gardens were created at the renovated or newly built residential and pleasure palaces of the Renaissance , which offered considerably more space for ornamental plants. Countless new plant species came to Central Europe from southern Europe, and now also from America and the Near East . The pleasure gardens were laid out and maintained by particularly well-trained gardeners or well-known botanists such as Elsholtz.

The court gardener Michael Hanff had already received the order from the "Great Elector" in 1647 to create a pleasure garden in place of the kitchen and kitchen garden that was laid out in the 16th century and devastated after the Thirty Years' War .

Hanff created the Berlin pleasure garden together with Elsholtz based on Dutch models, with an orangery , a flower garden and a spice garden. It was decorated with sculptures, grottos , summer houses and water features. In 1649 the first potatoes in Germany were grown in this garden . Elßholtz called the potatoes, which at that time were still considered ornamental plants, “Dutch tartuffels” in his “Flora marchica” and wrote about them in his “Diaeteticon”: “These roots grow by themselves in America / and those close to it Islands […] These graceful roots rarely come to us […] But then they overlook the loveliness of the Castania and the common sugar root / and would be defended / that they could also be grown with us. "

From 1656 he was “Praefectus hortorum” (top gardening supervisor). On December 17, 1657, Johann Sigismund Elsholtz was appointed "Botanicus" (Botanical Director) of his pleasure gardens in Berlin, Potsdam and Oranienburg by Elector Friedrich Wilhelm .

The "Hortus berolinensis", about which Elsholtz also wrote a detailed description in the same year, developed in the following years until 1672 under his direction to become the first botanical garden in Berlin with almost 1000 different plants. For the first time in 1718, the courtyard and kitchen garden created by Elsholtz in 1679 near Schöneberg (today Heinrich-von-Kleist-Park ) is also known as the "Botanical Garden". The street behind the Court of Appeal (Elßholzstrasse) that borders the park on the back is named after Elsholtz.

In particular, his work "Vom Garten-Baw" appeared in several editions. It became the most important German garden book of the 17th century. With this work, Elsholtz wrote the first compilation of all garden science. Six books deal with "gardening in general", including garden art, flower gardens, kitchen gardens, tree gardens, vineyards and medicinal gardens. The gardening work to be carried out each month is shown in an attached garden calendar.

He also wrote the first books and catalogs about plants and horticulture in Brandenburg .

In it Elsholtz described not only ornamental plants, but also useful plants. He praised Brandenburg grapevines, "which do not grow on a rough chalky ground, but on small sand hills and are therefore only light wines, but not astringent acidity, but rather only have a pleasant lushness, especially in good wine years."

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  View of the pleasure garden (around 1670?). Title copper from: Vom Garten-Baw , 3rd edition 1684

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  Citrus fruits. From: Diaeteticon , 1682

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  Dwarf tulips. From: Plantae singulares horti electoralis Brandenburgici , 1659/60

Dedication names

According to Elsholtz, the plant genus is Elsholtzia Willd. named.

Elsholtz as a chemist and alchemist

Elsholtz wrote six books and three smaller works on topics of alchemy.

So he observed z. B. the luminous property of phosphor . Elsholtz names this element for the first time as "phosphoros" ("light-bearing", composed of the Greek words phos for "light" and pherein for "to carry"). (The term was already used for other phosphors; nowadays the more precise word chemiluminescence is used).

He also researched and published about the glow of fluorspar when heated.

Elsholtz as a medicus

Johann Sigismund Elsholtz had studied medicine at the universities in Wittenberg , Königsberg and Padua .

In 1653 he received his doctorate in Padua with a thesis on the application of the art of measuring in medicine ("Anthropometria", first published in 1654). His book is the first work that uses the doctrine of proportions in medical and astrological human studies. In it he summarizes the contemporary literature on proportions on (and in) the human body, with regard to weight, mass and dimensions, and evaluates observations. The work also contains the earliest known illustration of a device for measuring body height ("anthropometron").

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  "Anthropometron". "Anthropometria", 2nd ed. 1664

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  Astrological "planetary lines" at hand ...

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  ... and on the foot. From: "Anthropometria", 1663

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  Illustration of proportions from “Anthropometria”, 1663

When he was appointed "Hofbotanicus" in 1657, Elsholtz was also appointed " Leibmedicus " (court physician).

Intravenous injection in humans. From: Clysmatica nova , 1667

Based on the discovery of the function of the great blood circulation by William Harvey (1578–1657), as well as the experiments of Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Boyle with opium injections in a dog (1656) - but probably without knowledge of the theoretical work of Timothy Clarke ( published 1663) - Elsholtz describes intravenous injection in people in his work “Clysmatica nova” (“Neue Clysmatica nova”, 2nd edition) in 1667 (after Daniel Major from Hamburg in his “Chirurgia Infusoria” from 1664) , executed on three sick soldiers in Berlin using a kind of enema syringe . Elsholtz also discusses the ethical pros and cons in the text and comes to the conclusion that it could be viewed as morally reprehensible to use the blood of another to save one person. Moreover, he did not yet know anything about blood groups and their intolerances and even recommended blood transfusions as a remedy for sibling or marriage problems. The blood of a melancholy husband can be refreshed by the blood of his cheerful wife and married life becomes more harmonious. The blackish urine color subsequently observed in patients treated in this way was then interpreted as a cleansing discharge of harmful substances. In truth, however, they had suffered a severe transfusion shock and were very lucky to survive the experiment.

Elsholtz worked together with another Hofmediziner, Christian Mentzel , much to the preparation of the "Brandenburg Medizinaledikts" from 1685, in the prices of medicines and medical consultations regulated and the activity of trained medical specialists from the many charlatans and sideline bungler (such as executioners , Starstecher , Tooth breakers and worse) was delineated.

"Diaeteticon", 1682; Title page

Last but not least, Elsholtz was a pioneer in hygiene . In his “Diaeteticon” from 1682 the term “hygiene” appears for the first time in the German-speaking area, whereby he uses this term in the sense of a holistic methodology for maintaining health. In this publication Elsholtz not only makes suggestions for healthy food and drinks. It also calls for the availability of clean water and pure air as a basic requirement for health and emphasizes the importance of personal cleanliness.

The "Diaeteticon" was also a cookery and diet book . In it Elsholtz himself describes the Berliner Weisse for the first time, without even naming it that way. He knows about tripe (= tripe): “The stomach and tripe have a hard and cold substance / which a strong stomach is required to digest: yes, if they are already digested / they give little / and not good blood. That is why they have to be improved with spices in the dressing. ” From today's point of view, he also described the various eating habits in a rather curious way: “ The way of life in food is not the same for all peoples. Nowadays it is believed that the Germans and Angels are great lovers of meat, the Dutch of butter and cheese, the Swiss of milk, the Welschen of salad and herbs, the French; from tree fruits, the Spaniards from Rettig, the Muscovites and Poles from garlic and onions, the Tatars from horse meat, and the Tapujer [a Brazilian people; Note d. Ed.] Of human flesh. " (1682)

Fonts

Frontispiece to “Distillatoria Curiosa”, 1674

• Anthropometria, sive De mutua membrorum corporis humani proportione. Accessit doctrina naevorum […]. , Patavii. Typis Jo. Baptistae Pasquati, 1654 ( digitized version of the Frankfurt (Oder) 1663 edition )
• Hortus Berolinensis , 1657 (handwriting). First printed in: Thomas Fischbacher, Thomas Fink (Ed.): Johann Sigismund Elsholtz: Hortus Berolinensis. The Berlin pleasure garden. Latin / German. Liber primus. First book, Weimar 2010, ISBN 978-3897396906 , and Felix Mundt, Marcel Humar (ed.): Johann Sigismund Elsholtz. Hortus berolinensis. First book, Worms 2010, ISBN 978-3884622957 .
• Plantae singulares horti electoralis Brandenburgici coloniensis , Cölln an der Spree, 1659/60.
• Flora marchica, sive catalogus plantarum, quæ partim in hortis Electoralibus Marchiæ Brandenburgicæ primariis, Berolinensi, Aurangiburgico, et Potstamensi excoluntur, partim sua sponte passim proveniunt , Berolini, ex officina Rungiana. Sumptibus Danielis Reichelii, 1663.
• Historia Steatomatis resecti et feliciter sanati , Coloniae Brand .: Schulze, 1666.
• Clysmatica Nova , Berlin, 1665; 2nd expanded edition under the title: Clysmatica nova sive ratio qua in venam rectam medicamenta immitti possint: addita inaudita sanguinis transfusione , Coloniae; Brandenburg, 1667. Reprint d. 2nd edition: Hildesheim: Olms, 1966.
• Garden-Baw or lessons from the gardening center directed towards the climate of Chur-Marck Brandenburg, as well as the neighboring German states: in 6 books and adorned with necessary figures , 1st ed. 1666; 2nd edition, Cölln an der Spree: Schultze, 1672; 3rd ed., 1684 under d. Title Vom Garten-Baw , Berlin / Leipzig / Cölln. Facsimile reprint of the 3rd edition, ed. u. with e. Nachw. Vers. by Harri Günther, Hildesheim: Olms, 1987, ISBN 3-487-07978-X .

A secondary edition of this work appeared under the title:

Johann Sigmund Elsholtzen's Doct. & Sereniss. Elector, Brandenb. Medici Ordinari Newly laid out garden, or strange imagination Like an experienced gardener, not only to prepare the most beautiful pleasure kitchen, tree and flower gardens from our climate, but also to raise, wait and see all kinds of rare flowers, plants and trees Can learn to curry before damage is caused. Written in VI books and fairly enlarged in this fourth edition , Leipzig: Fritsch, 1715. Digitized edition of the University and State Library of Düsseldorf

Another secondary edition is: Artzney-Garten- und Tisch-Buch, or continuation of the Gartenbaw […]: In VI books written […] Wobey the Frantzösche Koch, Becker and Consitirer , Franckfurt; Leipzig; Berlin; Cölln: Völcker, 1690.

• Distillatoria curiosa, sive ratio ducendi liquores coloratos per alembicum, hactenus si non ignota, certe minus observata atque cognita. Accedunt Utis Udenii et Guerneri Rolfincii Non-entia chymica , Berolini: Typis Rungianis, impensis Ruperti Volcheri, 1674.
• De Phosphoris observationes: quarum priores binæ antea jam editæ tertia vero prima nunc vice prodit , (volume tenens dissertationes de Phosphoro privato studio collectas; 3), Berlin: Georg Schultze, 1681.
• Dieteticon: That is, Newe's table-book, or instruction in maintaining good health through a proper diet, and especially through the lawful use of food and drink. Composed in six books [...], also adorned with necessary figures [...] , Cölln an der Spree: Georg Schultze, 1682. Reprint with an afterword by Manfred Lemmer, Edition Leipzig, GDR. Licensed edition for Verlag Dr. Richter GmbH, Munich, 1984 (= Classical Culinary Art. Volume 9), ISBN 3-923090-28-5 .
• De phosphoro liquido. observatio , Berlin, 1677.
• De phosphoris quatuor: observatio , Berlin: Georg Schultze, 1676.

Several secondary editions were published of some of these works, some of which were combined with works by other authors.

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

• Walter Artelt: Medical science and medical practice in old Berlin in personal reports. A reader . Part 1: From Elsholtz and Mentzel to the end of the 18th century . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin 1948.
• Ekhart Berckenhagen: Portrait of Johann Sigismund Elsholtz (in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel) . In: The Garden Department . Volume 11, Issue 4, Hanover 1962.
• Johann Bödiker : Honorary memorial of Mr. Johann Siegmund Elßholtz [...] at his body burial on March 4th. 1688 [...] in a abdication speech . Cölln on the Spree 1688.
• Ralf Broer: Elsholtz, Johann Sigismund . In: Wolfgang U. Eckart (Ed.): Ärztelexikon . 1995, pp. 122-123.
• Markus Fauser, Dirk Niefanger (ed.): Health and Politics. Body representations in the Dieteticon (1682) by Johann Sigismund Elsholtz . In: Body Representations in the Early Modern Age = Wolfenbütteler Barocknachrichten 32, No. 1/2 (2005), pp. 57–67.
• K. Fiedler: Johann Sigismund Elsholtz. The forgotten pioneer and German-speaking hygiene . In: Zentralbl. Hyg. Environmental med. Volume 200, No. 4, 1997, pp. 334-340.
• Marcel Humar, Felix Mundt: Johann Sigismund Elsholtz. Hortus berolinensis 1 = green row. Sources and research on garden art 30. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft , Worms 2010. ISBN 978-3-88462-295-7
• Axel Klausmeier: Johann Sigismund Elsholtz - "Botanicus, Praefectus Hortorum and Hoff-Medicus" of the Great Elector . In: Nice and useful. From Brandenburg's cloister, castle and kitchen gardens . Berlin 2004, pp. 88-99.
• Heinz-Dieter Krausch : The plants of the Elsholtz Florilegium 1659/1660 . In: Fedde's repertory . Volume 112, No. 7-8, 2001, pp. 597-611.
• Johann Daniel Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the imperial Leopoldino-Carolinische German academy of natural scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 191 .
• NN: Plausus Honorificus Amoribus castissimis […] : [Wedding poems to Johannes Elsholtz, Council Secretary in Frankfurt / O., And Elisabeth Elsholtz, geb. Stymmel, daughter of the university professor Benedikt Stymmel, 1640], Koch, Frankfurt / O. 1640.
• Alphons Oppenheim:  Elsholtz, Johann Sigismund . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 66.
• M. Sachs: Our surgical heritage. Discovery of intravenous injection and infusion therapy by Johann Sigismund Elsholtz (1623-1688) . In: Zentralbl Chir. Volume 116, No. 24, 1991, pp. 1425-1432.
• Willi Ule : History of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the years 1852–1887 . With a look back at the earlier times of its existence. In commission at Wilh. Engelmann in Leipzig, Halle 1889, supplements and additions to Neigebaur's history, p. 148 ( archive.org ).

The estate of Johann Sigismund Elsholtz is in the manuscript department of the Berlin State Library .

Web links

• Publications by and about Johann Sigismund Elsholtz in VD 17 .
• Literature by and about Johann Sigismund Elsholtz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Member entry of Johann Sigismund Elsholz (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on May 7, 2017.

Remarks

1. ↑ No more published.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ralf Vollmuth : Elsholtz, Johann Sigismund. 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. 344.