Joseph Heine
Encyclopedia
Joseph Heine (28 November 1803 – 4 November 1877) was a German physician and a high civil servant in the Bavaria
n health service in the Rheinkreis.
on November 28, 1803. He was the son of Johann Georg Heine
, who was an orthopedist and manufacturer of orthopedic instruments for the Würzburg university. Joseph attended the Würzburg Gymnasium
until 1824 and studied medicine in Würzburg and Munich
. In 1827 he passed his state examination in Bamberg
and did his doctorate as an MD in Würzburg.
Heine widened his medical knowledge by a number of journeys abroad. In the winter of 1828/29 he studied dermatology
and surgery
in Paris
. His tutor in the latter discipline was Guillaume Dupuytren
.
The departure of his father Johann Georg Heine to Holland in 1828 forced the son to return to Würzburg, where—together with his cousin Bernhard
—he took over the management of the Karolinen-Institut for one year.
In 1830 a "desire for further education" compelled him to travel to Vienna
and Warsaw
, where in 1831 he treated persons wounded in the anti-Russian rebellion as well as persons suffering from cholera
.
As he came down with typhoid fever
himself he had to return to Bavaria and worked as a physician in Homburg
on the Main and in Würzburg, before he applied for the post of district doctor in Waldmohr
in the Palatinate. When he was appointed in 1836 he gained the rank of a royal civil servant in the Kingdom of Bavaria, which he held for lifetime. In 1840 he applied for the higher post of a "first-class district doctor" in Germersheim
, which he held until 1851.
, but lost by a very narrow margin. Although he characterized himself as "unpolitical" his political leaning could be described as "pan-German
and anti-revolutionary".
His second effort to gain a political mandate was successful: He was elected a member of the second chamber of the Bavarian Landtag
. Yet in 1851 he gave up the seat, returned to Franconia and became a forensic pathologist and hospital manager in the city of Bamberg.
from where he did an excellent job supervising physicians, hospitals and pharmacies all over the region until his retirement in 1875.
Although he did not have a surgery of his own, he treated friends and relatives, and also poor people in his neighbourhood. He had good contacts to German physicians, e. g. Rudolf Virchow
in Würzburg, which may have been the reason for the facht that the 36th congress of German physicians and scientists in the summer of 1861 was held in Speyer.
he rejected the offer and rather completed his medical education in other European cities. He was greatly concerned when he learned about his father's efforts in branches of medicine he was not qualified for. There was only one meeting of father and son in 1838, shortly before the father's death. Johann Georg was already very sick and Joseph wanted to help him. However, he had to realize that his father stubbornly insisted on curing himself with dubious methods. In a publication four years later, Joseph Heine harshly criticized his father for leaving his family and for trying unscholarly methods of medical treatment, but also praised his merits as an outstanding orthopedist.
and philosopher and historian Peter Ernst von Lasaulx
Heine had a particularly close connection with the Feuerbach
family.
Heine had known and admired Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach
, the mathematician, since his student years. After Karl's death Heine was good friends with the elder brother Joseph Anselm Feuerbach , who taught archeology in Freiburg
. Joseph Heine soon recognized the artistic talent of his friend's son Anselm Feuerbach
and tried to encourage and support him. His and von Zwehl's attempt to send the young painter to Wilhelm von Kaulbach
in Munich was a failure: in 1850 Feuerbach went to Antwerp instead.
On his way through, Anselm visited Heine in Germersheim, to "get money for the journey out of him", but, in a letter to his mother, had to admit later: "Heine was sullen, and I had to say farewell, politely, at once, I am very sick and tired of him."
This meant the end of the relationship—at least according to available sources. Anselm Feuerbach went to Paris and Rome to become a famous painter. Joseph Heine lost sight of him.
On his retirement in 1875, Joseph Heine received a personal peerage
of the Bavarian Kingdom, which made him Joseph von Heine. He lived for two more years in Munich and died there on November 4, 1877.
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n health service in the Rheinkreis.
Medical career in Franconia and in the Palatinate
Joseph Heine was born in WürzburgWürzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
on November 28, 1803. He was the son of Johann Georg Heine
Johann Georg Heine
Johann Georg Heine was a German orthopedic mechanic and physician. He is considered the father of Orthopedics in Germany.- From cutler to orthopedic mechanic :...
, who was an orthopedist and manufacturer of orthopedic instruments for the Würzburg university. Joseph attended the Würzburg Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
until 1824 and studied medicine in Würzburg and Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. In 1827 he passed his state examination in Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
and did his doctorate as an MD in Würzburg.
Heine widened his medical knowledge by a number of journeys abroad. In the winter of 1828/29 he studied dermatology
Dermatology
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....
and surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. His tutor in the latter discipline was Guillaume Dupuytren
Guillaume Dupuytren
Guillaume Dupuytren, Baron was a French anatomist and military surgeon. Although he gained much esteem for treating Napoleon Bonaparte's hemorrhoids, he is best known today for Dupuytren's contracture which is named after him and which he described in 1831.- Birth and education :Guillaume...
.
The departure of his father Johann Georg Heine to Holland in 1828 forced the son to return to Würzburg, where—together with his cousin Bernhard
Bernhard Heine
Bernhard Heine was a German physician, bone specialist and the inventor of the osteotome, a medical tool for cutting bones.- Apprenticeship in Würzburg :...
—he took over the management of the Karolinen-Institut for one year.
In 1830 a "desire for further education" compelled him to travel to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, where in 1831 he treated persons wounded in the anti-Russian rebellion as well as persons suffering from cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
.
As he came down with typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
himself he had to return to Bavaria and worked as a physician in Homburg
Homburg
-In Germany:* Homburg, Saarland, capital of the Saarpfalz district of Saarland* Bad Homburg, town and spa in Hesse* Homburg Forest, a hill range in Lower Saxony* Homburg, a quarter of Triefenstein, Bavaria...
on the Main and in Würzburg, before he applied for the post of district doctor in Waldmohr
Waldmohr
Waldmohr is a municipality in the district of Kusel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated near the source of the river Glan, approx. 15 km south-west of Kusel, and 10 km north of Homburg....
in the Palatinate. When he was appointed in 1836 he gained the rank of a royal civil servant in the Kingdom of Bavaria, which he held for lifetime. In 1840 he applied for the higher post of a "first-class district doctor" in Germersheim
Germersheim
Germersheim is a town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, of around 20,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the Germersheim district. The neighboring towns and cities are Speyer, Landau, Philippsburg, Karlsruhe and Wörth.-Coat of arms:...
, which he held until 1851.
"Political" Interlude (1848–1851)
In 1848 Heine stood for a seat in the Frankfurt National AssemblyFrankfurt Parliament
The Frankfurt Assembly was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany. Session was held from May 18, 1848 to May 31, 1849 in the Paulskirche at Frankfurt am Main...
, but lost by a very narrow margin. Although he characterized himself as "unpolitical" his political leaning could be described as "pan-German
Pan-Germanism
Pan-Germanism is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify the German-speaking populations of Europe in a single nation-state known as Großdeutschland , where "German-speaking" was taken to include the Low German, Frisian and Dutch-speaking populations of the Low...
and anti-revolutionary".
His second effort to gain a political mandate was successful: He was elected a member of the second chamber of the Bavarian Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
. Yet in 1851 he gave up the seat, returned to Franconia and became a forensic pathologist and hospital manager in the city of Bamberg.
Government official in the Palatinate (1856–1875)
Heine's next upward step in his career was the appointment as "Kreis- und Medizinalrat der Pfalz", a position which put him in charge of overseeing the health system of this administrative region. His office was in SpeyerSpeyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
from where he did an excellent job supervising physicians, hospitals and pharmacies all over the region until his retirement in 1875.
Although he did not have a surgery of his own, he treated friends and relatives, and also poor people in his neighbourhood. He had good contacts to German physicians, e. g. Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
in Würzburg, which may have been the reason for the facht that the 36th congress of German physicians and scientists in the summer of 1861 was held in Speyer.
Joseph Heine and his father
When Johann Georg Heine left Würzburg and his family in 1829 to settle in Holland it must have been shocking for his son Joseph. When Johann Georg wanted him to take over a hospital in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
he rejected the offer and rather completed his medical education in other European cities. He was greatly concerned when he learned about his father's efforts in branches of medicine he was not qualified for. There was only one meeting of father and son in 1838, shortly before the father's death. Johann Georg was already very sick and Joseph wanted to help him. However, he had to realize that his father stubbornly insisted on curing himself with dubious methods. In a publication four years later, Joseph Heine harshly criticized his father for leaving his family and for trying unscholarly methods of medical treatment, but also praised his merits as an outstanding orthopedist.
Joseph Heine and Anselm Feuerbach
Besides numerous friendships with prominent contemporaries, such as the Bavarian minister Theodor von Zwehl (1800–1875), publisher Johann Friedrich CottaJohann Friedrich Cotta
Johann Friedrich, Freiherr Cotta von Cottendorf was a German publisher, industrial pioneer and politician.- Ancestors :Cotta is the name of a family of German publishers, intimately...
and philosopher and historian Peter Ernst von Lasaulx
Peter Ernst von Lasaulx
Peter Ernst von Lasaulx was born on March 16, 1805 in Koblenz, the eldest son of well-known architect, Johann Claudius von Lasaulx and his wife, Anna Maria Müller . He was named for his grandfather, Peter Ernst Joseph von Lasaulx , who served as Syndic for Koblenz...
Heine had a particularly close connection with the Feuerbach
Feuerbach
Feuerbach may refer to:a surname* Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach , German legal scholar* Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach , German mathematician* Ludwig Feuerbach , German philosopher and anthropologist...
family.
Heine had known and admired Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach
Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach
Karl Wilhelm von Feuerbach was a German geometer and the son of legal scholar Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, and the brother of philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach. After receiving his doctorate at age 22, he became a professor of mathematics at the Gymnasium at Erlangen...
, the mathematician, since his student years. After Karl's death Heine was good friends with the elder brother Joseph Anselm Feuerbach , who taught archeology in Freiburg
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
. Joseph Heine soon recognized the artistic talent of his friend's son Anselm Feuerbach
Anselm Feuerbach
Anselm Feuerbach was a German painter. He was the leading classicist painter of the German 19th-century school.-Biography:...
and tried to encourage and support him. His and von Zwehl's attempt to send the young painter to Wilhelm von Kaulbach
Wilhelm von Kaulbach
Wilhelm von Kaulbach was a German painter, noted mainly as a muralist, but also as a book illustrator. His murals decorate buildings in Munich.-Education:...
in Munich was a failure: in 1850 Feuerbach went to Antwerp instead.
On his way through, Anselm visited Heine in Germersheim, to "get money for the journey out of him", but, in a letter to his mother, had to admit later: "Heine was sullen, and I had to say farewell, politely, at once, I am very sick and tired of him."
This meant the end of the relationship—at least according to available sources. Anselm Feuerbach went to Paris and Rome to become a famous painter. Joseph Heine lost sight of him.
On his retirement in 1875, Joseph Heine received a personal peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
of the Bavarian Kingdom, which made him Joseph von Heine. He lived for two more years in Munich and died there on November 4, 1877.
External links
- The article is a translation of the German article, which in turn is a short summary of this biography with illustrations