Louis Lewin

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Louis Lewin around 1887

Louis Lewin (born November 9, 1850 in Tuchel , West Prussia , † December 1, 1929 in Berlin ) was a German doctor, pharmacologist, toxicologist and author. He is the founder of industrial toxicology and modern drug research.

Life

Louis Lewin was born to Rahel and Hirsh Lewin, who were originally called Appelbaum and came from a Polish province in Russia. His father was a shoemaker by trade and an excellent knowledge of the Hebrew language . In 1856 the family moved to Berlin, to the “ Scheunenviertel ”; the financial situation was bad. Louis Lewin earned extra money, bought books and learned German in self-study. In 1864 he was admitted to the Friedrichwerder Gymnasium , where he received his school-leaving certificate in 1871, so that he could study medicine at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (now: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ). As a medical student, he published an article on morphinism in 1874 .

In 1875 he earned his doctorate with his prize work Experimental Investigations on the Effects of Aconitin on the Heart . He received his license to practice medicine on February 16, 1876. A few months later he underwent basic military training and was appointed assistant doctor to the reserve in mid-1877; in autumn he moved to Munich and worked in research laboratories on metabolism and hygiene at Carl von Voit and Max von Pettenkofer . In 1878 he applied in vain to Oskar Liebreich for an assistant position at the Pharmacological Institute in Berlin and moved there; He was allowed to conduct research at the institute, but was not given the space he needed as a private lecturer - his appearance made an eccentric impression, he was not baptized as a Christian and did not remain a civil servant all his life.

In 1881 he completed his habilitation in pharmacology (now: pharmacology ), toxicology and hygiene and married Clara Wolff, who supported him in his extensive authoring work by proofreading. In 1893 he got the title of professor , but no official teaching position and taught students and non-medical students in overcrowded private rooms next to the Charité about the effects and side effects of drugs .

In 1887 he traveled to the USA and Canada . He recorded the impressions of this trip in a travel diary for his wife, which was published posthumously. He came back to Berlin with some peyotl pieces (mescale buttons) and identified their ingredients. The focus of his research and teaching gradually became commercial poisoning and assistance for poison workers; for this he became a full honorary professor at the Technical University in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1919 and finally received an official teaching position on October 1, 1923. In the winter semester of 1924/25 he gave an important lecture: The doctrine of poisons, industrial poisons, accidental poisoning, industrial diseases with projections and visits to companies, on Saturdays from 12pm to 2pm . Louis Lewin was of the opinion:

“The abstinence from tobacco, as a product of subjective perception, is to be recognized as well as abstinence from alcohol or hatred of women or many other negative passions. But limit yourself to yourself! If one wants to improve on the condition of mankind, there are truly more significant tasks, e.g. B. the improvement of life-shortening work influences and working conditions for many thousands of people. "

- Louis Lewin

In innumerable court hearings he appeared as an expert witness. Together with August Bebel and Rosa Luxemburg he was a member of a “Committee for Homeless Asylum”.

Louis Lewin died at the age of 79 after months of blood poisoning ( sepsis ). In an obituary from 1930 the question was asked, “[…] what was the reason for the striking contrast between achievement and career in this life? Was it just the jealousy of the competitors, just racial enmity, just shyness of the certainly not 'comfortable' colleague? [...] It was precisely his temperament and his emotional partisanship for those who, in his opinion, were wrongly persecuted, for the economically weak, etc., clouded his otherwise often so sharp critical view and tore him to hasty conclusions, which made his expressions in the eyes of the prudent ones took a lot of credit. "

In 1979 the medical historian Erwin Heinz Ackerknecht wrote on the 50th anniversary of his death: “It is paradoxical, but anyone who has known, adored, loved LEWIN feels a certain sense of relief that one of the greatest of the many great Jews in German medical history was granted it to die before 1933. ”Clara Lewin, his widow, was killed in the Theresienstadt concentration camp .

Services

The Louis-Lewin-Straße underground station on the U5 line in Berlin-Hellersdorf

Basic toxicological findings are made by Louis Lewin:

  • There is not a single chemically known poison that - introduced to animals for any length of time - creates an antidote in the blood that has the ability to render the poison harmless in any way.
  • No alkaloid, no glycoside, no blood-changing or otherwise toxic, chemically known substances from the range of inorganic or organic synthetic substances can be prevented by serology from developing their toxic effects.
  • “Anyone who says that poison cannot harm him is wrong. Everyone is harmed by poison, some sooner, some later, some more, some less. [...] A disease that has come through a poison can usually not easily be distinguished from a real disease, because the suffering from poison and that resulting from an illness can be confusingly similar. ”( General instruction sheet for poison workers , 1907 )

In 1888 he described the cactus named after him “Anhalonium Lewinii” ( Lophophora williamsii , Peyote) and investigated its chemical principle, which he called “anhalonin” ( alkaloid fraction containing mescaline ). He also created a classification system for drugs and psychoactive plants based on their pharmacological effects. Its original classification was:

A focus of the scientific work of Lewin concerned the research of drugs . This also applied to the addiction to morphine and the treatment of morphinism . There was an argument between Lewin and Sigmund Freud about this . In his early scientific phase, Freud saw cocaine as the drug of choice for treating morphinism. Lewin was the first to point out the dangers of cocaine treatment for morphine addicts. In his book Phantastica he writes, among other things: "[...] I immediately objected to this and predicted that it would be achieved by such a person using both substances, that he would then indulge in a" paired passion "[... ] ".

In her doctoral thesis on Louis Lewin, Brigitte Hoppe comes to the conclusion: “There is no doubt that Louis Lewin, like the pharmacologist Rudolf Kobert, were among the last great 'encyclopedists' to conduct individual experimental research in various areas due to their polyhistorical approach strived to integrate into an overall picture [...] "

Honors

Memorial plaque on the building at Ziegelstrasse 5 in Berlin-Mitte
tomb

His grave of honor is in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee (grave number 79405, field MI, inheritance row 475). It was restored by the Jewish community in 1981.

On October 23, 1981, a symposium was organized in honor of Lewin jointly by the GDR Academy of Sciences , the Toxicology Association of the GDR Chemical Society and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences .

In the Berlin district of Hellersdorf , a street (previously named after Paul Verner ) and a station on underground line 5 bear his name. In October 1992 another symposium took place in the Kulturforum Berlin-Hellersdorf, the Hellersdorfer Heimathefte printed the contributions presented there with images. Lewin's granddaughter Gabrielle Forrest from the USA and Lewin expert Bo Holmstedt from Sweden attended the event.

A memorial plaque is placed near his place of work .

Fonts

A complete list of his pharmacological and toxicological investigations, treatises and works (1874-1929) with 265 titles is in: The toxicologist Louis Lewin (1850-1929) . Ed .: R. Klaus Müller, Bo Holmstedt, Karlheinz Lohs . Leipzig 1982. Some publications are reissued over and over again.

  • About morphine intoxication. In: German journal for practical medicine. 1874, No. 27, p. 240 f.
  • The side effects of the drugs. Pharmacological-clinical manual. Publishing house August Hirschwald, Berlin 1881.
  • Medicines and their dosage - for use in lectures and medical practice . Grosser, Berlin 1884 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • Textbook of toxicology - for doctors, students and pharmacists; with 8 woodcuts u. 1 plate. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna & Leipzig 1885 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • The arrow poisons - historical and experimental studies . Reimer, Berlin 1894 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • Textbook of toxicology . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna a. a. 1897 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • About Areca catechu, Chavica betle and betel chewing . Enke, Stuttgart 1889 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • With M. Brenning: The fruit abortion by poisons and other means. A handbook for doctors and lawyers. A. Hirschwald, Berlin 1899; 2nd, revised and enlarged edition there in 1904.
  • General instruction sheet for poison workers. Based on the negotiations of the XIV Conference of the Central Office for Workers' Welfare Institutions . C. Heymanns Verlag, Berlin 1907.
  • The carbon dioxide poisoning. A manual for medical professionals, technicians and accident judges. Springer, Berlin 1920.
  • The poisons in world history. Toxicological studies of historical sources in a generally understandable way. Julius Springer, Berlin 1920 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf . Reprint: Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1983, ISBN 3-8067-2013-4 .
  • Fantastica. The numbing and exciting stimulants. For doctors and non-doctors. Georg Stilke, Berlin 1924; 2nd, expanded edition, ibid. 1927; several reprints (Markt Erbach 1987) and new prints (Linden 1980), z. B. Reprographic reprint: Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1973, ISBN 3-8067-0247-0 .
  • Poisons and poisoning. Textbook of toxicology. G. Stilke, Berlin 1929. Reprint: Haug, Heidelberg 1992, ISBN 3-7760-1286-2 .
  • God's judgments through poisons and other processes. Stilke, Berlin 1929.
  • Through the USA and Canada in 1887. A diary . Ed .: Bo Holmstedt and Karlheinz Lohs. 2nd, unchanged edition. Springer, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-540-52518-1 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Louis Lewin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael de Ridder: Heroin: From Medicines to Drugs. Campus, Frankfurt / New York 2000, ISBN 3-593-36464-6 , note 239 (there also notes on confusion with Levinstein).
  2. ↑ Course catalog of the TH Berlin from 1918/19 to 1929/30.
  3. ↑ Fantastica . Gerstenberg, Berlin 1973, p. 413.
  4. ^ Wolfgang Heubner: Louis Lewin . In: Münchn. Med. Wschr. 77, pages 405-406 (quoted from Der Toxikologe Louis Lewin , Leipzig 1982).
  5. ↑ Quoted from Karlheinz Lohs in: The toxicologist Louis Lewin (1850–1929) . Leipzig 1982, page 2: Erwin H. Ackerknecht: Louis Lewin 1850-1929 . In: Gesnerus , Volume 36 (1979), Issue 3-4, pp. 300-301 (digitized version ) .
  6. ↑ Radio portrait in inforadio on April 28, 2010. ( Memento from February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Retrieved on September 24, 2012.
  7. ^ L. Lewin: Ueber Anhalonium Lewinii. In: Archives for Experimental Pathology and Pharmacology. 24, 1888, pp. 401-411, doi : 10.1007 / bf01923627 .
  8. ↑ Louis Lewin: Fantastica. Second adult Edition. Volksverlag Linden, 1980, p. 110.
  9. ↑ Peter Oehme : The Berlin pharmacologist and toxicologist Louis Lewin - His life and work. In: DGPT Forum, No. 20, pp. 39-43, 1997.
  10. ↑ a b Brigitte Hoppe: Louis Lewin (1850-1929). His contribution to the development of ethnopharmacology, toxicology and occupational medicine . Inaugural dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1985, page 135.
  11. ↑ The toxicologist Louis Lewin . Leipzig 1982
  12. ^ Louis Lewin (1850-1929). Life - work - effect . In: Hellersdorfer Heimathefte  3, Berlin 1992.
personal data
SURNAME Lewin, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lewin, Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor, pharmacologist, toxicologist and founder of industrial toxicology and drug research
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Tuchel , West Prussia
DATE OF DEATH December 1, 1929
Place of death Berlin