Lucius Spengler

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Lucius Spengler (born October 8, 1858 in Davos ; † February 12, 1923 there ) was a Swiss physician and specialist in lung diseases .

Live and act

Schatzalp sanatorium shortly after it opened in 1900
Advertisement in the Davos newspaper in 1910

Lucius Spengler was the son of the pioneer of the Davos mountain cure , Alexander Spengler , and brother of Carl Spengler . He attended elementary school in Davos, the canton school in Chur and studied medicine at the universities of Zurich , Tübingen and Heidelberg from 1878 to 1885 . From 1885 to 1887 he was assistant to Oskar Wyss at the polyclinic, then to Rudolf Ulrich Krönlein at the surgical clinic in Zurich. In 1887 Spengler received his doctorate from the University of Zurich. In the same year he set up his own practice in Davos Platz , from where he soon made an international name for himself as a tuberculosis doctor.

Like his friend Max Cloëtta, Spengler belonged to the group of specialists who, in 1910, campaigned for Ferdinand Sauerbruch (the inventor of a negative pressure chamber for operations on the open chest, for example with tuberculosis sufferers) as Krönlein’s successor.

He married Helene Christina Holsboer, the daughter of Willem Jan Holsboer . The couple Lucius and Helene Spengler-Holsboer lived in the Villa Fontana.

Schatzalp sanatorium

Willem Jan Holsboer's last major project was the construction of a sanatorium on the Schatzalp . Together with his sons-in-law Lucius Spengler and Eduard Neumann, Holsboer planned the Schatzalp luxury sanatorium. With this building at an altitude of 1,865 meters, something “never seen before” should be created. Ahead of its time, the first flat roof was built on Schatzalp with a drainage through the inside of the house. Floor heating and running cold and warm water in each room were further innovations. A hydraulic elevator, a meteorological station, a funicular with direct current drive and electric light became standard.

After Holsboer's death in 1898, Lucius Spengler took over the project management. He opened this model institute at Christmas 1900, which he headed as chief physician until his death. From the beginning, Spengler's brother-in-law Eduard Neumann was also part of the medical management of the house.

As specialists in therapeutic procedures for pulmonary tuberculosis, Spengler and Neumann published numerous specialist articles and built an international reputation for themselves.

In 1910, accommodation in the Schatzalp Davos sanatorium cost 14.50 Swiss francs a day. Including seven (!) Meals a day, medical care, shower, bath, heating and electric light. According to today's value, that is around 60 euros. A corresponding advertisement appeared in the Davos newspaper in 1910 . The newspaper was published by Hugo Richter , the bookseller from Königsberg who, in 1865, was one of the first winter spa guests to travel to Davos, where he quickly recovered. The news of his healing quickly made Davos famous.

Therapeutic pneumothorax

Spengler is one of the pioneers of the artificial pneumothorax . The Spengler exudates are named after him. Historically, the artificially created pneumothorax is known as a therapeutic method for pulmonary tuberculosis. This procedure was abandoned after the development of effective antibiotics .

Known patients

When Ernst Ludwig Kirchner came to Davos in 1917, he was given mental health care mainly by the "Frau Doktor" Spengler. Kirchner described her in his diary as a devoted, kind woman.

Spengler's daughter Helene married Oscar Miller from Solothurn in 1916. The Millers owned several paper mills, were art patrons and at the same time were collectors of contemporary art. This is how they got to know Kirchner and the Spengler-Holsboer family in Davos.

Kirchner received medical attention from Lucius Spengler. It was thanks to Kirchner's rigor and iron will that he was weaned from medication in 1921. This weaning was the beginning of a stable health phase. From the mid-1920s, however, Kirchner increasingly suffered from the harsh winters in Davos, which affected his health.

Lucius Spengler's daughter Charlotte married the philosopher Eberhard Grisebach , who was friends with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and published about him.

literature

  • Ludolph Brauer: In memoriam Dr. Lucius Spengler. October 8, 1858-12. February 1923. In: Contributions to the clinic of tuberculosis and specific tuberculosis research. Vol. 66, H. 6 (August 25, 1927), pp. 683-687, doi: 10.1007 / BF02079890 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferdinand Sauerbruch [, Hans Rudolf Berndorff ]: That was my life. Kindler & Schiermeyer, Bad Wörishofen 1951; cited: Licensed edition for Bertelsmann Lesering, Gütersloh 1956, pp. 124–129.
  2. Eberhard Grisebach in the biographical part of the Kirchner Museum .