Ludwig Schlager

Ludwig Schlager (born August 19, 1828 in St. Florian am Inn , † July 24, 1885 in Badgastein ) was an Austrian psychiatrist .

Life

Schlager, stepson of a mayor of St. Florian, first completed his training at the Academic Gymnasium in Linz . In 1846 he went to study medicine at the Medical and Surgical Joseph Academy in Vienna . During his studies he was a field medical assistant at field hospitals in Northern Italy in 1848/1849 as part of the suppression of the Venetian Revolution . After his return, he resumed his studies and was initially promoted to Dr. med. doctorate , one year later finally Dr. chir. He then went to the insane asylum on Brünnfeld , where he worked, with an interruption in 1853, until 1860. In the following period he was an expert for the Regional Court for Criminal Matters in Vienna until 1872 .

As early as 1858, Schlager, who had been a member of the Vienna Medical Doctoren College since 1857, completed his habilitation in the field of psychiatry and forensic psychology and had been a lecturer at the University of Vienna since 1860 at the latest . In 1865 he was appointed associate professor and in 1878 as full professor of psychiatry. After extensive study trips through Central Europe to study the different regulations of the insane asylums and their legal bases, he returned to Vienna and in 1870 became head of the observation department for dubious mentally disturbed people in the Vienna General Hospital .

From 1866 to 1879 Schlager was a member of the Vienna City Council for the Liberal Party . There he campaigned particularly, albeit with moderate success, for the improvement of the medical system. As a result, he became a member of the Supreme Medical Council from 1879 until his death in 1885 and held the title of Senior Medical Council . A year earlier, in 1878, he was the Executive Council appointed. However, his efforts to change the legislation on insane asylums were unsuccessful.

From 1873 until his death he was director of the Niederösterreichische Landesverrenanstalt , where he worked after his studies. There he was one of the advocates of occupational therapy and fought for it against his colleagues.

The hit street in Vienna- Alsergrund is named after him since 1886th

Publications (selection)

• On the psychological disorders that develop as a result of concussion , in: Journal of the Imperial and Royal Society of Physicians in Vienna, No. 13, 1857.
• Idiotism and the idiot institutions , 1862.
• The significance of the Ringtheater disaster for the mad doctor , in: Allgemeine Wiener medicinische Zeitung, 27/1882 (also published independently).

He also wrote the opera libretto for the opera Heinrich und Ilse, which premiered in Salzburg in 1868 .

literature

• Hermann Frölich:  Schlager, Ludwig . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 31, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, p. 327.
• Wolfgang John: Personal bibliographies of professors and lecturers in physiology, psychiatry and ear medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna in the approximate period 1790-1878. With brief biographical information and an overview of the scientific work. Erlangen 1971, p. 169 ff.
• G. Roth:  Schlager, Ludwig. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 10, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7001-2186-5 , p. 168 f. (Direct links on p. 168 , p. 169 ).

Web links

• Ludwig Schlager in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
• Works by and about Ludwig Schlager  in the German Digital Library