Sudhoffs Archiv (Sudhoffs Arch Z Wissenschaftsgesch)

Publications in this journal

• Article: [In process citation].

  Osten Philipp
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  ABSTRACT: In 1934 the NSDAP University-Commission forced the president of the German Society of Surgery and the chairman of the German Orthopaedic Society to sign a reconciliation agreement. First of all, orthopaedists and surgeons were ordered to refrain from attacking each other in public. In the future, in the event of any complaints, they were to address the 'Reichsärzteführung' at the Ministry of the Interior. On the basis of papers and documents from the archives of the medical faculty, the East German Ministry for State Security and the former Berlin Document Centre, this article describes the history of the emerging medical specialty orthopaedics at the University of Berlin and the Charité hospital. It covers a period from 1890 through 1945 and focuses on the varying relations between political authorities, medical associations and the faculty. The main attention is given to ethical and economic disputes and to the way in which professors for orthopaedics were appointed. The two pioneers of orthopaedic surgery, Julius Wolff and Albert Hoffa had to overcome less resistance than their successors Georg Joachimsthal and Hermann Gocht. Gocht's fate changed, when the NSDAP took Power. As a protégé of the regime he represented the medical faculty during the period of political cleansing. In 1937 the appointment of the orthopaedist Lothar Kreuz as a full member of the medical faculty was no longer a university matter anymore. His appointment was negotiated entirely within the organisations of the NSDAP. Politically approved, Kreuz served as dean of the medical faculty and later was to be the last rector of the University of Berlin. For the first time, this article documents the connections between Kreuz, the paramilitary squadron of the party SS, and key political figures.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(1):1-27.
• Article: K. 263+10934, A tablet with recipes against the abnormal flow of a woman's blood.

  Ulrike Steinert
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(1):64-94.
• Article: Qubilai and the rats.

  Paul D Buell
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(2):127-44.
• Article: [In Process Citation].

  Sabine Herrmann
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  ABSTRACT: The private library of Tomaso Rangone (1473-1577), famous for his patronage of Jacobo Sansovino and Alessandro Vittoria, does not only reflect the personal interests of a medical practitioner in the Italian Renaissance, but also the social, and scientific development of the first half of the Cinquecento: the popularity of astrology, the effect of the European expansion on geography, the growing interest for historiography, the advances in the field of medicine and botany and the remaining influence of medieval scholasticism.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(2):145-58.
• Article: [In Process Citation].

  Erika Eikermann
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  ABSTRACT: The article about the life and achievements of the apothecary Johann van Beethoven, the younger brother of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, depicts a vivid picture of life in the 18th, 19t century. Research on archived original documents in Bonn, Vienna and Linz on the Danube made it possible to reveal details about the relationship inside this famous family and describes the hurdles of life of a successful apothecary. In 1776 Johann van Beethoven was born as the fourth child of the Beethoven family, a family of Bonner musicians. In 1790 he began his apprenticeship to become an apothecary at the Bonner "Hofapotheke". Towards the end of 1795 he moved to join his older brothers Ludwig and Karl in Vienna. During his time there he worked as a "subject" in various Viennese pharmacies. However in 1808 he purchased the pharmacy "Zur Goldenen Krone" in Linz on the Danube. His new pharmacy flourished, supplying first the Napoleonic occupation troops, and later the Austrian Military with medicines and field dressing/bandage materials. When in 1812 he married his Housekeeper, his Brother Ludwig opposed harshly, on reasons of social status and on moral grounds. Four years later, in 1816 Johann sold the pharmacy in Linz and founded a new pharmacy in Urfahr, on the opposite bank of the Danube. In 1819 he became a squire (or landowner), when he purchased a manor estate in Gneixendorf, near Krems on the Danube. In spite of his numerous duties as an apothecary and squire, Johann was frequently resident in Vienna, supporting his brother both emotionally and pharmaceutically. At the end of his life Johann sold both his pharmacy and the Gneixendorf estate, and spent his last years as a private gentleman living a dazzling lifestyle in Vienna. He died on January 12th 1848 and was buried in Vienna's "Waldmüllerpark".
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(2):170-96.
• Article: [In Process Citation].

  Nils Lenke, Nicolas Roudet
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  ABSTRACT: This arcticle summarizes what could be learned from newly discovered documents about the biography of Nicolas von Vicken, first known reader of Kepler's "Astronomia Nova" and Kepler's partner in an exchange of more than a dozen letters over several years. Von Vicken stems from a rich and influential family of merchants in Riga, made noble by the Polish King (who ruled Riga at the time) in 1580. His education included legal studies at the universities of Königsberg, Leipzig and Rostock, partially overlapping with a stay of ten years at the Polish court. There von Vicken pursued family business but also served in an official court role. In 1600/1 von Vicken switched sides and started to serve the Swedish ruler (and later king) Duke Carl IX, who was at war with Poland to gain control over Riga and Livonia. In 1602 a mission for Sweden to Northern Germany brought him in conflict with Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, who accused von Vicken of withholding money from him, which was supposed to be used for hiring troops. Von Vicken, together with his brother Heinrich, was imprisoned, but could flee. During a mission to Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria, in 1599/1600 von Vicken had been initiated as an alchemist and astrologer through reading the works of Paracelsus and his future stations in life were influenced by this. These include an attempt to get employed at the Saxon court in Dresden, and stays in Wolfenbiittel and Halberstadt, both ruled by Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Von Vicken offered various astrological and alchemical services to the Duke and private investors. With one of them he got into a serious conflict over the alleged non-fillment of a contract to produce steel in an alchemical way. During that von Vicken got imprisoned twice, in 1609 and between 1611 and 1614. A subsequent attempt to get employed by Ernst of Schaumburg left us with several letters that detail von Vicken's alchemical and astrological thinking, two of these are published here in the appendix. Since 1603 von Vicken was also in the service of Emperor Rudolf II; again he got imprisoned in Prague at least once. An interesting speculation based on some hints in the documents is that after reading Paracelsus and during his time in Leipzig von Vicken authored a book on mining, that was later to become part of the works of the alleged medevial monk Basilius Valentinus.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(2):197-230.
• Article: [In Process Citation].

  Gerhard Wiesenfeldt, Olaf Breidbach
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  ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the debate on one particular phenomenon of the research into electrical charge distribution prior to 1800: the description and interpretation of polarities observed on the tourmaline. We show that in the second half of the eighteenth century this crystal became a model to distinguish and categorize different qualities of charges (electric and magnetic fluids). It will become clear that the polarity detected on the tourmaline became a key concept for eighteenth century natural philosophy, which relied on analogizing operations. We illustrate this concentrating on Lichtenbergs first lecture at the Göttingen academy of science in 1778. Thus the concept of polarity is already a central ordering category before the beginnings of the speculative enterprise of idealistic Naturphilosophy. Consequently, the physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter, who can be positioned in that context, consciously adheres to the experimental research tradition of polarities portrayed in this paper.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(1):95-109.
• Article: [In Process Citation].

  Susan Splinter
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  ABSTRACT: The Nuremburg physician Johann Christoph Götz published some cases taken from his own practice. A comparison of the printed cases with notices from his practice journal shows that Götz has reproduced his cases mostly truthfully. Remarkable is the place of publication and his preference for unorthodox singular cases. He brought these cases up for discussion exclusively in periodicals. Götz intended no teaching activity with his approach but expected an appropriate exchange of knowledge.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2012; 96(2):159-69.
• Article: [Bow legged adjectives in ancient literature].

  Frantisek Simon, Florian Steger
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  ABSTRACT: This article addresses the issue of capturing the medical entity called 'curved legs' in a terminologically exact way. In so doing, it refers to the long-lasting process of differentiation of exact nuances of meaning in Ancient Greek and Latin. In the chronological perusal of ancient Greek literature, it becomes evident that the various adjectives employed are often vague when looking at non-medical literature. By contrast, in the Hippocratic corpus these terms are for the first time annotated with explanations intended to lead to a more precise understanding of the described deformity. Further attempts of differentiation can be found in the writings of Galen, who not only distinguishes between outward and inward curvatures, but also between deformities of the thigh and lower leg as well as between pathological and natural curvatures. Latin literature also provides a series of adjectives that were initially often used in the meaning of 'curved' but it was not until Celsus that these were differentiated with respect to the type and direction of the curvature. When comparing Greek and Latin adjectives, it turns out that though the Latin term blaesus can be traced back etymologically to the Greek word beta lambda alpha iota sigma ó zeta, the meaning of beta lambda alpha iota sigma ó zeta does not fully correspond to that of the Latin word. It is not before the later common transliteration of Greek words that this adjective took on the meaning of beta lambda alpha iota sigma ó zeta; however, this was finally lost again. In summary, the article concludes that exact word meanings in ancient literature are often unclear and precise ascriptions of meanings are inconsistent. In the case of "curved legs," this has led to misunderstandings regarding the respective types and directions of the curvature.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(2):209-21.
• Article: [The role of ancient astrology in preparation for a secular natural science and medicine].

  Markham J Geller
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  ABSTRACT: The Persian period in the Near East (from c. 500 BCE) represented the first example of globalisation, during which advanced cultural centres from Egypt to Afghanistan were united under a single rule and common language. Paul Unschuld has drawn attention to a scientific revolution in the late first millennium BC, extending from Greece to China, from Thales to Confucius, which saw natural law replace the divine law in scientific thinking. This paper argues for new advances in astronomy as the specific motor which motivated changes in scientific thinking and influenced other branches of science, including medicine, just as the new science of astrology, which replaced divination, fundamentally changed the nature of medical prognoses. The secularisation of science was not universally accepted among ancient scholars, and the irony is that somewhat similar reservations accompanied the reception of modern quantum physics.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(2):158-69.
• Article: ["The multiple science instructional curious artist". Alchemy, folk magic and folk medicine in baroque home reference books].

  Claus Priesner
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  ABSTRACT: Germany's Hausväterliteratur, the "literature of the fathers of the houses," was once a popular genre but today is seldom studied. Roughly, this literature, as its name suggests, comprises books on the proper keeping of noble households and mansions. Interestingly, besides the content which one might expect in such books, the organization of personnel, the arrangement of festivities, discussions of the various branches of technical skills, economic advice and the whole field of agriculture, fishing and hunting, these books also contain remarkably large amounts of information directly connected with magic and an associated popular medicine (Volksmedizin). This medicine involved treatment administered mostly by laywomen instead of regular physicians and was based not just upon traditional medical knowledge per se but also upon magical practices. Also found in such texts are alchemical ideas and recipes. This means that despite the fact that such books were written and published in the 17th and early 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, conceptions found in them are still deeply rooted in older intellectual currents, in Medieval and Renaissance thinking. The present study examines examples of alchemical, magical and popular medical ideas in three such works and seeks to explain how pre-enlightenment ideas and thought could maintain such an influential place in the intellectual world of a later time dominated by other philosophies.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(2):170-208.
• Article: [Illustrations of of alchemy vessels in a manuscript of Pseudo-Geber].

  Peter Kurzmann
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  ABSTRACT: Manuscript ric. 933 "Geber de investigatione perfectionis magisterii", kept in the Libreria Riccardiana in Florence, is a 13th century Latin version of the "Book of the Secret of the Secrets" ("kitab sirr al-asrar") by the Arabian alchemist al-Razi (865-925). The manuscript shows on page 25r a series of drawings of alchemistic vessels and apparatus which do not figure in the Arabian original but which are of particular interest as they date from as early as the 13th century and are numbered amongst the earliest drawings of this kind which we possess. The publication of the manuscript by Julius Ruska in 1935 shows only copied drawings with his interpretations of the legends. There was considerable interest in the publication of the original page 25r and in the course of further study it became clear that these interpretations had to be revised. These new interpretations presented in detail in this paper are justified and put into an alchemistic context. In some cases they give a new understanding and differ considerably from Ruska's versions.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(1):66-93.
• Article: ["Because the mole sometimes shows itself" argumentative structures in Hildegard von Bingen 'causeae et curae'].

  Ortrun Riha
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  ABSTRACT: The paper examines the didactic strategies in Hildegard von Bingen's 'Causae et curae'. Based on her self-developed, complicated concept of primary qualities, elements, and body fluids, she connects cosmic processes with physical activities and disease patterns. Hildegard combines an allopathic and a homoeopathic approach and, as an attentive observer of nature, she looks upon everyday situations as signatures of healing. Hildegard's imagination in analogy and comparison constitutes a specific quality of her medical advice.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(2):222-34.
• Article: [Skyblue - the cyanometer of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740 - 1799)].

  Olaf Breidbach, André Karliczek
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  ABSTRACT: The cyanometer is a simply constructed measuring instrument that enables a determination of skyblue. It consists of a color-scale that is arranged circularly going in equal steps from white to blue (Prussian blue) and finally into black. According to its inventor--Horace-Bénédict de Saussure--the azure is determined by the amount of so called opaque vapors in the atmosphere associated with meteorological phenomena. As outlined by De Saussure, the blackness of the universe seen through an illuminated and blurred medium results in azure. Thereby his instrument offers a relative scale that is consistent with color theories of his time like those of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The description allows the construction of the scale without the employment of standardized color-prints. Instead he provides a clear report of the necessary procedures to produce such a scale. The accuracy of this description is tested and discussed employing the methods of experimental history of science. The reception of the cyanometer in the time about 1800 and its implications on color theories is discussed.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(1):3-29.
• Article: [Christian Keferstein - an amateur geologist in central Germany around 1800 and his journal "Teutschland shown geognostically - geologically"].

  Kathrin Polenz
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  ABSTRACT: Christian Keferstein (1784-1866) was a self-educated geologist in early 19th century Germany. His pre-scientific period may be regarded as an example of how research in nature was conducted not only by academics but also by so called "Dilettanten" (amateurs). Keferstein's journal Teutschland, geognostisch-geologisch dargestellt was published for over ten years beginning from 1821 and was intended to provide a forum for geological studies in Germany. The fact that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe colored a geological map as an insert for the 1st edition of the journal shows how dilettantism was part of professional research, even though experts did hardly refer to it. This article is to show how this kind of common research was done during the early stages of geology--when the discipline was still open to amateurs--and how results could be published. Therefore the profile of Keferstein's journal reflects not only the specifics of amateurs observations but also a lack of experts that could satisfy the need for standardized observations, especially for the production of detailed maps.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(1):30-47.
• Article: [Mathematics - astronomy - astrology special library].

  Sibylle Gluch
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  ABSTRACT: About 1560 Elector August of Saxony created an unusual library--one distinguished within its period by both its specialization and location. Situated within the Kunstkammer this library was mostly dedicated to the mathematical sciences and related disciplines. It contained works by the most important authors on mathematics, astronomy, and astrology from the classical, medieval, and early modern periods. This essay traces the formation and composition of August's library, and examines its function: What kind of relationship existed between the library and the Kunstkammer? In what way did the library mirror the interests of the Elector, and to what extend does it permit inferences regarding the Elector's knowledge of mathematics? From the analysis August emerges not as a specialist with a deep understanding of mathematics, but as a particular aficionado of mathematical applications. As a practitioner and general follower of the mathematical arts he took part in a far-reaching intellectual network the center of which lay in the University of Wittenberg. Here, Melanchthon had effectively strengthened the importance of the mathematical disciplines within the university curriculum. He regarded mathematics as the foremost science, arguing that before all other disciplines its method enabled man to recognize the harmonic order of the world, and to discern divine providence. Thus, mathematics offered consoling stability and support in an often seemingly chaotic world torn by religious controversies. This kind of esteem for the mathematical sciences did not presuppose expert knowledge. Hence, the fact that August does not appear to have read the mathematical books he collected does not come as a contradiction. On the contrary, for August it sufficed to recognize the potential of the mathematical sciences, which he brought into life through the creation of a specialized library that developed a rhetoric of its own. The collection of his Kunstkammer library spoke of a harmonically ordered world while at the same time memorializing August as a lover of mathematics and an important figure within the group of mathematical experts and enthusiasts.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(1):48-65.
• Article: [Production of glass in early middle ages].

  Martin Zimmermann
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  ABSTRACT: For the production of glass three ingredients are necessary: sand, a flux to reduce the melting-temperature and calcium to reduce the danger of glass corrosion. The first objects of glass were made with calcium-rich ashes of halophytic plants, until, in the first millennium BC, the glassmakers began to use natron as a flux adding calcium deliberately or choosing a calcium-rich sand. Natron, a mineral applied to fertilize or to preserve, as a spice, a detergent or part of medical and cosmetic articles, was exploited in the regions south and east of the Mediterranean, so the Central European glassmakers had to import natron or the prefabricated raw glass for their work. Beginning in the 8th century AD in Central Europe the flux changed again: The glassmakers increasingly used ashes from wood growing in their native regions so becoming independent of the necessity to import the raw materials. There are various reasons for this change: First, the Mediterranean was no longer the trade area it had been at the time of the antique Roman Empire due to the activities of the Byzantine navy. Then, the climatic change in the 8th century and political upheavals during the 9th century in Egypt--being the main supplier of natron--caused a decrease in exploitation and trade with this good. Finally, the Egyptian state established a monopoly on the natron production, causing a permanent price increase. Nevertheless, during the Early Middle Ages natron was imported into Europe, although not necessarily for glass production. The article shows that glassmakers of Central Europe were able to produce glass since the end of the Western Roman Empire on the basis of the transfer of raw materials and know-how from the East. From the 8th century onwards they emancipated themselves from the dependency on imports by discovering and using native materials for glass production.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2011; 95(1):94-114.
• Article: ["One makes a distinction between 2 color contrasts, the instantaneous and the afterimage". Several color theory comments by Gottfried Semper in the "style" of 1860].

  Robin Rehm
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  ABSTRACT: Gottfried Semper (1803-1879) is well-known for his work on colour schemes in architecture. The architect published several books and articles on related topics, such as polychromy in Greek and Roman edifices, mural paintings of Pompeii, and the colouring of the renaissance architecture. It has been less discussed, however, that Semper was also engaged in the contemporary discourse on colour theory as pursued in Natural Science research. The paper examines theoretical remarks on colour in Semper's publication "Der Stil" of 1860. His terminology, the modality of his explanations and his discussion of colour experiments suggest that Semper was familiar with Michel-Eugène Chevreul's theory of colour. Semper's reception of Chevreul is not surprising. The French chemist wrote one of the most important studies of colour of the nineteenth century. His famous book "De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs" was published in Paris in 1839, where he developed some of the principles of "harmony and contrast of colours" and their application to the arts. Especially Chevreul's synthesis between theoretical consolidation and practical transformation seem to have attracted Semper's attention.
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2010; 94(2):157-77.
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  Article: Greek and Chinese horse medicine: déjà vu all over again.

  Paul D Buell, Timothy May, David Ramey
  Sudhoffs Archiv 01/2010; 94(1):31-56.