Karl Christian Wolfart

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Karl Christian Wolfart , also Christian Carl Wolfart (born May 2, 1778 in Hanau ; † May 17, 1832 in Berlin ), brother of Philip-Ludwig Wolfart , was a German doctor of natural philosophy , a follower of the animal magnetism of Franz Anton Mesmer and an amateur Poet.

Life

Karl Christian Wolfart studied medicine in Göttingen since the winter semester of 1794 , then in Marburg . There he received his doctorate in medicine in 1797 on the basis of the dissertation De genii morborum mutatione hominum vitae rationi tribuenda and then worked as a general practitioner in Hanau. In 1800 Wolfart was associate professor and in 1803 full professor of physics and medicine at the electoral high school in Hanau . From 1801 he worked as a well doctor in Wilhelmsbad and from 1804 as a doctor in Berlin and Warsaw . From 1805 to 1807 he was a commissioner to ward off yellow fever on the Austrian border. In 1810 Karl Christian Wolfart completed his habilitation in Berlin with the text About the meaning of the theory of signs in medicine . Wolfart published the medical-surgical weekly paper Askläpieion from 1811 to 1814 . In 1812, on behalf of the Prussian Commission to investigate magnetism, he traveled to the doctor and healer Franz Anton Mesmer in Frauenfeld , Switzerland, and documented Mesmer's thought structure and his practical advice on healing in his work Mesmerism. From 1813 he was a senior physician in Berlin. In 1817 Wolfart was appointed full professor of medicine at Berlin University.

He was the family doctor for the von Arnim nobles.

Wolfart was accused of abusing his patient Caroline von Blücher, granddaughter of the famous Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher , during a magnetic session in 1819 . Another version says that he was seduced by her outside of such a session.

Older biographical articles often mention May 18, 1832 as the date of death. However, Wolfart died on May 17th. This is confirmed on the one hand by the family's obituary notice which appeared in the Berlin Intelligence Gazette on May 24, 1832 (p. 3577): “On the 17th of this month, in the morning at 10 o'clock, our beloved brother, the Königl, died. Professor of Medicine at the local university, Doctor Christian Karl Wolfart, on nerve damage, after having been sick for seven months. All friends of the deceased, here and abroad, will share our inexpressible pain. Berlin, May 20th, 1832. Wolfart, Secret Judicial and Chamber Court Council. At the same time in the name of his brother, Government President Wolfart zu Arnsberg. ”In addition, the Berlin theology professor and pastor Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher , who gave the funeral oration for Wolfart on May 21, noted his death in his daily calendar for May 17.

Honors

In 1818 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

Writings and works

  • About the genius of diseases . Frankfurt am Main 1801.
  • Forms or teaching the drafting of prescriptions. Guilhauman, Frankfurt am Main 1803.
  • The nature of yellow fever and its type of treatment have been nosologically examined . Berlin 1905.
  • Lazy fever, with particular reference to its appearance during war . Halle / Berlin 1814.
  • Mesmerism or System of Interactions. Theory and Application of Animal Magnetism as General Medicine . Nikolai, Berlin 1814.
  • Notes on mesmerism . Nikolai, Berlin 1815.
  • The magnetism against the Stieglitz-Hufelandische writing on animal magnetism asserts its true value . Nikolai, Berlin 1816.
  • Basics of semiotics in doctrines as a guide to lectures . Nikolai, Berlin 1817.
  • Yearbooks for Life Magnetism or New Asklaepieion. General journal for the whole of medicine according to the principles of mesmerism . ed. by K. Chr. Wolfart, Brockhaus, Leipzig 1.1818–5.1822 / 23.
  • Nosological therapy . Dümmler, Berlin 1826.
  • Hülfs tables against the Indian epidemic as a result of own practical experience . Logier, Berlin 1832.

Poetic works

  • Guntha. 1809.
  • Hermann. Play. 1810.
  • Upper libretti for Nero, among others .
  • Christmas sounds of sacred songs. 1825.

literature

  • E. Gurlt: Wolfart, Karl Christian. In: Biographical lexicon of the outstanding doctors of all times and peoples. Volume 5, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin 1934, pp. 981-982.
  • Ali A. Landauer: A note on the role of Karl Christian Wolfart (1778-1832) in the study of animal magnetism. In: Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. 17, 1981, pp. 206-208.
  • Dirk Schmid (Ed.): Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, Sermons 1832. de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-036429-3 , pp. XXXII f.
  • Werner E. Gerabek : Wolfart, Karl Christian. 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. 1502.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939, pp. 18-19.
  2. ↑ In detail: Burkhard Peter, Alida Iost-Peter: The "Wolfart case" or the problem with magnetic rapport. To develop the therapeutic relationship in the early days of psychotherapy. In: Hypnose-ZHH. 9, Issue 1 + 2, 2014, pp. 169–207. (meg-stiftung.de)
  3. ↑ An anonymized indictment is Johannes Wolframm 1821: Magnetism and Immorality: A Strange Contribution to the Secret History of Medical Practice. (books.google.de)
  4. ↑ See the also anonymized defense of Voss 1822: Letters on magnetism, medical practice and the dangers of deception. (books.google.de)
  5. ^ List of members Leopoldina, Karl Christian Wolfart
personal data
SURNAME Wolfart, Karl Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanau
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 1832
Place of death Berlin