Julius Schweikert

Julius Schweikert

Julius Schweikert (born April 8, 1807 in Wittenberg , † April 25, 1876 in Moscow ) was a German physician and pioneer of homeopathy .

Life

Julius was born as the eldest son of Georg August Benjamin Schweikert and his second wife Henriette Giese. At the age of eight he left his place of birth to follow his father to Grimma. Here he moved from October 10, 1820 to February 8, 1826 the local princely school . On February 16, 1826 he enrolled at the University of Leipzig , where he began to study medical sciences. On November 25, 1831, Schweikert defended the treatise Quaestiones de salutari methodi homoeopathicae in morbis curandis effectu, exemplis prosperrimi successus confirmato , in which the subject of homeopathy at a university was treated for the first time in public. In that work he initially explained the history of homeopathy, went into applicable diseases and their treatment and explained various disease courses that he had observed in his father and Moritz Wilhelm Müller . Because of this work he was awarded a doctorate in medicine.

The dissertation was also well received by Samuel Hahnemann , who referred him to Prince Kurakin in the Orjol governorate in Russia as a homeopathic personal physician. He then traveled to St. Petersburg on May 21, 1832, in order to later travel to the Kurakino court. In his new role, Schweikert not only had to deal with the prince's family, but also the people in the prince's extensive estate. Although he was given a not inconsiderable salary, he was not particularly happy. On the one hand, the prince had almost determined his medication himself and his gluttony did the rest, so that he was unable to cure his chronic ailment. On the other hand, he missed home and the exchange between colleagues. The work at the local hospital and in his practice also filled his time. Nevertheless, in the course of his activity he made a name for himself that reached as far as Moscow.

His financial situation, which initially looked very meager, also turned out to be positive in the five-year period. The Moscow upper class wanted a representative of the new science to Moscow. After quitting his job on July 6, 1837, he moved to Moscow where he set up a homeopathic practice. On June 4, 1838 he was employed as a doctor at the Moscow Agricultural School, which post he served for nine years. Here he married Ekatarina Vasil (1822-?) In 1841, with whom he would later have eight daughters. On July 2, 1842, he received an extraordinary appointment as a doctor at the imperial foundling house (educational institution), on September 4 of the same year he was appointed titular councilor, which was only promoted on July 22, 1843. In 1844 he became a doctor at the imperial widow's house, which was equivalent to another promotion.

How much Schweikert gave homeopathy a name in Moscow is proven by the fact that a homeopathic hospital was set up there on December 16, 1845, in which the poor of the city were treated free of charge. Schweikert was entrusted with the medical management of the same and ran this institution until 1860, as the hospital had to be closed due to financial difficulties. On February 16, 1849, he was also awarded the title of Collegiate Assessor at the second aristocratic grammar school in Moscow, and on December 29, 1851, he was given a post as an assistant doctor there, which he quit on April 26, 1856. For the treatise Quaestiones pathologicae de pneumonia infantium lactantium et recentum a partu (Pathological investigations on pneumonia in children, infants and newborns) he was appointed doctor by the University of Moscow on December 18, 1853.

On July 26, 1854, he was promoted to senior physician at the widow's house, on July 16, 1854, he was appointed Russian court counselor and on August 27, 1862, councilor. In addition to his appointments that elevated him to the Russian aristocrat, he also received numerous Russian medals. Only the 3rd Class Order of St. Anne, awarded on November 2, 1862 , the 2nd Class Order of St. Stanislaus received on December 15, 1872 with an imperial crown and the 4th Class Order of St. Vladimir presented on September 22, 1875 should be mentioned here be. After he was released into retirement on March 1, 1876, the symptoms of his diabetes became more and more severe, from which he finally died. His body was buried in the Inoverčeskoe cemetery in the Wvedenskie Mountains of the Moscow countryside.

Act

Schweikert, who played a major role in introducing homeopathy in Russia, has achieved a quite appropriate status to be named as a pioneer of homeopathy. In his work, homeopathy was considered a complementary science to medicine. During many epidemics in the Russian Empire he was able to find solutions to cure his patients with the help of homeopathy. He had not only relied on the then still martial scientific knowledge. Rather, he tried to supplement modern science with homeopathy.

Like his father, he has experienced some hostility, but his professional success speaks a different language. His endeavors subsequently found further consideration in Russia only in the fifties of the twentieth century. From 1918 onwards, at the instigation of Anatoly Wassiljewitsch Lunacharsky , all homeopathic innovations had been dissolved on the grounds that homeopathy was an idealistic and reactionary doctrine.

literature

• Johann Gustav Schweikert: Necrology of Dr. med. Julius Schweikert, Imperial Russian Councilor in Moscow. In: Edmund Levi: Hirschel's magazine for homeopathic clinic. Verlag TO Weigkl, Leipzig, 1876, 25th volume, p. 151
• Hermann Wunder: Ecce held at the royal state school Grimma in the years 1876, 1877, 1878. G. Gensel, Grimma, 1879, p. 6
• Thomas Lindslaey Bradford: The Pioneers of Homoeopathy. Boericke & Tafel, Philadelphia, 1897, p. 598 (English)
• JT Kent, Hugh A. Cammeron: Journal of Homoeopathics. Philadelphia, 1899, Vol. 3, p. 519 (English)
• Anke Dörges: The homeopath family Dr. Schweikert. Karl F. Haug Verlag, Stuttgart, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8304-7275-9
• Fritz D. Schroers: Lexicon of German-speaking homeopaths. Verlag Karl F. Haug, Stuttgart, 2006, p. 134

Web link

• english biography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Julia (* December 5, 1843 in Moscow), Polina (* April 29, 1845 in Moscow), Anna (* November 28, 1846 in Moscow), Katerina (* November 24, 1851 in Moscow), Delaiza (* 2. April 1854 in Moscow), Sophia-Angelika (born October 20, 1855 in Moscow), Karolina-Louise (July 19, 1858 in Moscow) and Natalja (December 21, 1860 in Moscow)