Department of History of Medicine
JOSEPHINUM , Währingerstrasse 25
A - 1090 Wien, AUSTRIA
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The History of the Institute
 

The historic building called Josephinum

(The former residence of the Austrian military medical academy)

The Institute for the History of Medicine has been domiciled since 1920 in the Josephinum, the abbreviated title for the medizinisch-chirurgische Josephs-Akademie, which served as training centre for aspiring doctors in the imperial army between 1785 and 1874. Joseph II was the founder and patron of this institution, which was modelled on the Académie Royale de Chirurgie in Paris. The emperor intended that it should serve to raise the standard of training of military surgeons, which until then had merely been that of medical craftsmen, to an academic level equalling that of the medical training at Vienna University. Indeed, it was Emperor Joseph's goal to overcome the schism between physicians and surgeons and to create a single and uniform medical profession, to which entry would be granted by graduation as Doktor der gesamten Heilkunde (Doctor of the entire Medical Sciences). Moreover, he envisaged that the Josephinum should develop as an academy of learning in which, amongst other attributes, scientific research would be encouraged specifically in the field of surgery.

Emperor Joseph II, founder and patron of the
Medizinisch-chirurgische Josephs-Akademie



The former Austrian Military Medical Academy 		The palatial building, designed by the court architect, Isidore Canevale (1730-1786), was erected in the astonishingly short time of two years. Its architecture is a magnificent example of the Josephinian style of classicism. The total cost of around 1 million gulden was paid out of Joseph's private funds.
Sadly, practically nothing remains today of the original grandiose artistry of the interior design of the Josephinum. In particular, the lecture theatre, which formerly was famed for its frescoes portraying the most distinguished surgeons, as well as for its painted ceiling, was radically altered after the end of the Second World War.

Lecture theatre of the Josephinum, 1785

The same fate befell the once artistically-decorated reading room, which was graced by the presence of about 10,000 beautifully-bound volumes encompassing the entire scope of notable medical and scientific works ever printed. Those books which luckily survived the war form the most valuable core of the present-day library of the Institute; they are currently positioned in the room exclusively dedicated to old and rare books, i.e. the Josephinian library. By contrast, the whereabouts of the missing collections formerly used as visual aids in the instruction of students attending the Josephinum remain a mystery. These collections consisted of one cabinet devoted to natural history, displaying minerals, plants and stuffed animals and another cabinet containing physical apparatuses of interest; the lost teaching collection, furthermore, comprised surgical instruments, bandages, medicines and pathological specimens.
Gabriela Schmidt
 

The Chair for the History of Medicine from 1833 - 1917 under Seligmann, Puschmann and Neuburger


Heinrich Ludwig Attenhofer
 Imperial consent to hold lectures in the history of medicine was first received by Heinrich Ludwig Attenhofer, a Swiss citizen, in October 1808. However, he left Vienna a few days earlier for St.Petersburg and so the first lectures in this field were given in 1809 by Joseph Eyerel, who was one of Maximilian Stoll's pupils. His successor in 1811 was Andreas Wawruch, who held the title of Dozent (lecturer) in the history of medical literature.

Andreas Wawruch


Since November 1, 1833, when Romeo Seligmann (1808 - 1892) was granted permission to teach history of medicine, lectures in the subject took place regularly and, from then onwards, a "knapsack-chair" has existed for a Dozent. Seligmann was usually called by the forenames Franz Romeo, although his entry into the birth register of the Jewish community in Nikolsburg was recorded as Abraham Romeo. He was the friend and adviser of Ottilie von Goethe, and belonged to the same circle of friends as Franz Schubert. It was Ernst von Feuchtersleben, a fellow student of Seligmann's, who introduced him to the young intellectuals and artists frequenting the "Silbernes Kaffeehaus" in the Plankengasse in Vienna, a group which included such subsequently famous personalities as Franz Grillparzer, Moritz von Schwind, Eduard von Bauernfeld and Nikolaus von Lenau, apart from Schubert. A drawing by Schwind, which today hangs in Schubert's birthplace, shows Seligmann next to Feuchtersleben amongst the friends listening to Schubert playing the piano. Seligmann became Professor extraordinarius on August 20, 1848 and then, in June 1869, Professor ordinarius in the specialty of history of medicine.

Romeo Seligmann

As Gymnasiast Seligmann had already begun to learn Arabic, Persian and Turkish. His facility in these languages culminated in his presentation, as Orientalist, of a dissertation containing the first ever translation of the 10th century (= 4th century Anno Hegirae) Islamic medical treatise by Abu Mansur Muwaffaq al-Harawi "kitab al-abniyyat an haq'iq al-adwiyyat" (Arabic title, Persian text) into Latin (Liber fundamentorum pharmacologiae, Vienna 1830, 1833 and 1859). Romeo Seligmann was a general practitioner; his father Isaak and his two brothers Franz and Leopold were likewise doctors. He died on September 15, 1892 and was buried in a grave of honour of the City of Vienna in the Döblinger cemetery (19th district).


The second incumbent of the chair was Theodor Puschmann (1844 - 1899), who succeeded Seligmann in 1879. Although he had a specialist training in psychiatry, Puschmann worked as a general practitioner and published scholarly translations of Byzantine medical texts such as the works of Philumenos (1st century) and Philagrios (4th century), based on an unpublished treatise by Alexander von Tralles (6th century). Moreover, the appearance of one of his excellent monographs on the history of medicine in Vienna, a meticulous documentation extending to over 300 pages of the achievements of the Vienna Medical School from Gerard van Swieten to Theodor Billroth, coincided with the centenary celebrations of the Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus (1884). His talents were diverse and he wrote a travel guide, as well as attempting his luck as novelist. Puschmann had planned to bring out a handbook on medical history, but had to take early retirement for health reasons and died shortly afterwards. His bequest of 500,000 marks, intended for the Domus Iosefina in order to establish an institute for the history of medicine in Vienna, went in the end to Leipzig, enabling the foundation of the Sudhoff Institute.

Theodor Puschmann

Max Neuburger (1868 - 1955), a neurologist by training, became head of the department after Puschmann's death, at first in a temporary capacity jointly with Robert von Töply. In 1904 he received the title of ausserordentlicher Professor and subsequently advanced to Extraordinarius. Neuburger became the founder of the present-day Institute for the History of Medicine in 1914 and, very belatedly, in 1917, he was appointed Ordinarius.
The 40 years intervening between Neuburger's becoming Dozent in 1898 and his forced emigration in 1938 were a period of intensive activity. None of his predecessors or successors left a comparative imprint on the institute. Indeed, Neuburger can be viewed as the personification of Austrian medical history, a perspective which is underlined by the innumerable prestigious awards and honours which he received from foreign countries during his lifetime, a rare distinction for a doctor. In the German-speaking world he was the pendant and antipole of Karl Sudhoff, a constellation which Henry Sigerist, who was a disciple of both, elaborated in the Festschrift brought out in 1943 in London in honour of Neuburger's 75th birthday.

Max Neuburger


Pre-eminent amongst his enormous output of scientific publications was the early oeuvre "Geschichte der Medizin", which appeared in two volumes in 1906 and 1911, respectively. No less distinguished a personality than Sir William Osler wrote the foreword for the English translation of the work. As co-editor with Pagel of this handbook of the history of medicine, he realised the intentions of his immediate predecessor, Puschmann, whose early death had thwarted the latter's goal to produce such a work. Neuburger wrote about the history of medicine in general, and about the history of experimental physiology in particular; he translated Spanish treatises and studied Arabian medicine; he edited a translation of Leopold von Auenbrugger's "Inventum novum" and published a collection of the letters of Franz Gall; furthermore, he wrote numerous biographical articles and devoted many papers to the history of medicine in his native city of Vienna and to its distinguished representatives. Even when exiled in England he remained active and continued to publish. Kagan's bibliography of 1943 lists altogether 188 works by Neuburger.

From the very beginning, Neuburger vigorously pursued the attempts initiated by his predecessor to obtain a permanent home for the "knapsack-chair" and devoted great efforts towards the foundation of an institute for the history of medicine in worthy surroundings. However, this proved to be a lengthy, drawn-out process, taking up the entire first two decades of the 20th century. With typical procrastination on the part of the appropriate government ministry, Neuburger's first formal application was neither endorsed nor refused, but returned merely with the remark that there appeared to be no contraindication to the foundation of such an institute. As an interim measure, Neuburger used a room in the Dean's office of the Medical Faculty as storage place for his treasures and "inhabited" a site underneath the tiered benches of the lecture theatre of Noorden's department. The First World War proved a further obstacle to the realisation of his plans of finding a suitable departmental domicile. Finally, it was Karel Frederik Wenckebach, successor to Noorden, who enabled Neuburger to transfer his department in 1920 to the impressive building of the Josephinische Akademie, lying vacant following the dissolution of Austria's imperial army. Thus, the Viennese tradition of teaching the history of medicine, which stretched back to the beginning of the 19th century, was at last crowned by receiving a deserving ambience in a building of great historical importance. The specialty now held a proper place within the Medical Faculty and the city.

Karl Holubar


The Years 1920-1960 in the Josephinum up to the Time of
Leopold Schönbauer

The Institute for the History of Medicine, founded in 1914, was fortunate in having a head who was a most enthusiastic teacher and a distinguished research scientist, but it lacked a permanent home. At first the institute occupied makeshift accommodation in the Dean's office of the Medical Faculty. Then it was allocated the half-moon shaped room situated between the sloping wall under the tiered benches of the lecture theatre of the First Department of Medicine in the Allgemeines Krankenhaus and the external wall of the building. In 1920 the distinguished head of that clinical department, Karel Frederik Wenckebach, demanded in an impassioned speech that the building of the former medicinisch-chirurgische Josephsakademie, defunct as an institution since 1918, should be placed at the disposal of Neuburger's institute. His plea was endorsed by two eminent colleagues, the surgeon, Julius Hochenegg and the anatomist, Julius Tandler, whereby the latter simultaneously held a prominent position in the government as Unterstaatssekretär (Under-secretary of State) at the time.

Thus, the way was paved for the move of the institute to its new home. The extreme economic deprivation following in the wake of the First World War naturally precluded the appointment of staff. Indeed, Max Neuburger, with the help of his wife and of his two sons, Camillo and Fritz, accomplished literally everything single-handed. Yet, Neuburger stated contentedly in 1921 that it was in fact the genius loci which made the rooms apportioned to the institute the most suitable ambience which could have conceivably been chosen.

His comprehensive biography on Hermann Nothnagel appeared in the following year already (1922). Furthermore, a historically critical edition of "Inventum novum" the discovery of percussion, was published in form of a multilingual translation, likewise in 1922, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Leopold von Auenbrugger. At the same time, Neuburger was occupied by problems related to natural healing methods over the course of history and his first publication on this subject appeared in honour of the 70th birthday of his fellow medical historian, Karl Sudhoff. Three years later, this research study was expanded into a monograph, which he dedicated to his friend Anton von Eiselsberg, the distinguished surgeon.

The reading room, which had been the library of the former Josephinische Akademie, was a worthy setting contributing to the impressive atmosphere of the celebration in honour of Max Neuburger's 60th birthday in 1928. Clemens von Pirquet, Julius Wagner von Jauregg, Karel Frederik Wenckebach and Julius Tandler, to mention only a few names, were amongst the illustrious medical personalities invited to witness the presentation by Rudolf Maresch, pathologist and Dean of the Medical Faculty at the time, of a plaque bearing Neuburger's portrait as birthday gift. Indeed, this plaque still today occupies a place of honour in the institute. In his reply Neuburger described in most evocative terms his struggle for the recognition of history of medicine as specialty throughout the course of his career and characterised his life's work as "pleasurable labour combined with a never-ending fight for a good cause". Visitors from all over the world came to the department, often enriching the artefacts of the institute by their gifts. The collection of Chinese drugs, for example, is a reminder still today of the visitors of that era.

Two monographs on various epochs of the Vienna Medical School, followed by many papers on specialist topics, including the development of cardiology, dermatology, paediatrics and urology, as well as on the problem of individual drug actions, poured from Neuburger's pen over the next decade.

In the fateful year 1938 Neuburger, in common with all Jewish academics, was dismissed from his position and lost his chair. It is often overlooked that the two leading statesmen of Austria were among the few courageous voices of the time to protest against the Anschlu?. Thus, apart from Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg's doomed efforts to save Austria's independence, President Wilhelm Miklas refused to sign the decree proclaiming the Anschlu?, prophesying that "Hitler signified war". As a result, he was summarily dismissed from office and kept under house arrest.

Neuburger managed to flee to England at the very last moment. The internationally renowned scholar was warmly welcomed in London and was enabled to continue his research work there. The Wellcome Trust established a new home and workplace for him in its Historical Library. In the shortest imaginable time, despite all the misfortunes which had befallen him, he once again published an article on the Vienna Medical School, this time from the British point of view (1943). Ten years later he returned to Vienna and died in his former home town in 1955.

Fritz Lejeune, a native of Cologne, was appointed successor to Neuburger after the Anschluss. Previously Dozent in Greifswald, his main interest was initially focussed on the history of medicine in Spain and, being a stimulating teacher, Lejeune was much appreciated by his students in Vienna. He simultaneously served as chief physician of Vienna's military hospital and, always a practically-orientated person, he strove to apply his knowledge of the history of medicine to his duties as physician.

After 1945 Leopold Schönbauer, the well-known surgeon who had demonstrated his interest in the history of medicine by publishing an excellent monograph entitled "Das medizinische Wien", was placed in charge of the institute as an interim measure. In 1947 an augmented edition of his historical study appeared; it is noteworthy that all the eminent doctors of Jewish descent were extensively referred to already in the earlier edition, which dated back to the National Socialist era (1944).

Leopold Schönbauer

Since Schönbauer was kept extremely busy, not only as sought-after surgeon, but additionally as director of the Allgemeines Krankenhaus, he was unfortunately unable to devote as much time as he would have liked to the Josephinum. Thus, the practical running of the institute lay in the hands of Dr Marlene Jantsch, who became Dozent in the history of medicine in 1956. Despite the difficulties of the post-war years, she was able to attract new colleagues to the staff of the institute and co-authored many publications with them.

Helmut Wyklicky

Erna Lesky

Erna Lesky, newly appointed as head of the institute, entered the Josephinum on October 3, 1960. Married to Albin Lesky, specialist in ancient philology, she had become Dozent in the history of medicine in 1956. It was characteristic of Lesky's approach that her first steps in the department were not to her own room, but to the reading room, in order to greet the genius loci of the Josephinum in the Neuburger tradition. It was entirely due to her relentless, unflagging energy that the whole building was overhauled and restored during her very first years, in combination with a radical restructuring of the institute. Thus, she was already able in 1965 to act as hostess in the completely refurbished institute for the celebrations in honour of the 600th anniversary of the founding of Vienna University; moreover, she dedicated the handbook on "Die Wiener Medizinische Schule im 19. Jahrhundert" to the University on this occasion. Her research in the archives enabled many-facetted correction of the prevailing clichÈs attached to Leopold von Auenbrugger, Johann Peter Frank, Carl von Rokitansky and Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, thereby greatly enhancing knowledge with regard to these personalities.

Erna Lesky


The arrangement of both rooms of the medical history museum, the Wiener Säle, bears Lesky's hallmark. The Josephinian Library, consisting of the works inherited from the Josephinische Akademie and the bountiful gifts received from Max Neuburger, as well as objects accrued under Lesky's direction of the institute from various sources, namely the First Department of Medicine of Vienna University, the Gesellschaft der ƒrzte and the Doktorenkollegium, was introduced to the general public in a separate catalogue comprising 10,600 index card reproductions.

Likewise, a comprehensive review of the remainder of the library took place under Lesky's personal direction and with her active participation, resulting in the production of a subject catalogue comprising about 120,000 index cards. She pronounced metaphorically that thereby a "Bl¸thner piano" had been placed at the disposal of the institute, an instrument which her colleagues and the many visitors to the department should now "play on" - a characteristic remark.

The anatomical wax preparations consisted altogether of 1192 individual objects which Emperor Joseph II had commissioned in Florence, financed out of his private means and donated to the Akademie. In 1962 these artefacts were newly catalogued by the anatomist, Konrad Allmer and the medical historian, Marlene Jantsch. Furthermore, restoration of these wax preparations and of their rosewood display cabinets was commenced at the same time.

The picture archives stem from Neuburger's passion for collecting pictures of historical interest and consist of paintings, copperplate engravings, watercolours, drawings, photographs and colour prints, etc. This rich collection was now catalogued and thereby made generally accessible.

The manuscript collection was also rearranged and catalogued under Erna Lesky. It contains a letter written by Alexander von Humboldt, amongst innumerable doctors' autographs .

Professor Lesky attended many congresses and the institute frequently participated in a further capacity by lending objects for display at such meetings. In 1979 she applied for early retirement and moved to Innsbruck. However, Erna Lesky was fortunately able to attend the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the Josephinum in 1985 and personally show the Austrian President, Rudolf Kirchschläger, the treasures from the famous collections of the institute. It was sad, though, to see the lady who had entered the building so felicitously in 1960 now leave her former domain, mortally ill and lonely, on that occasion. She died in Innsbruck the following year, in 1986.

Helmut Wyklicky

The last two Decades of the 20th Century:
the post-Lesky Era (1979 - present).
 The Lesky era can be viewed as the second pinnacle after the Neuburger era in the history of the institute. Thus, Erna Lesky found it extremely difficult to part from the institution which she had rebuilt so successfully after the Second World War and to hand over the reins to a successor, despite the availability of her own pupil, Helmut Wyklicky, a specialist in internal medicine and the last polyhistorian of the great period of Viennese medicine. However, the latter's comprehensive knowledge, which was largely built on personal experience, in conjunction with his endearing, gentle personality ensured that his support within the Faculty was so strong that in 1979 Wyklicky was appointed Professor ordinarius ab ovo, a distinction which none of his predecessors was accorded. Wyklicky pursued Lesky's tradition of processing Viennese medical history with great élan. He organised the magnificent 200-year celebration of the Josephinum in 1985, which was fittingly commemorated for posterity by the publication of a beautifully illustrated, large-format book.

Helmut Wyklicky

  Since his official retirement, Wyklicky has continued to place his knowledge and diverse skills at the disposal of the institute. The appearance in print recently of a volume of hitherto unpublished letters by Theodor Billroth testifies to his unabated pleasure in creative activity.
 In 1989 Karl Holubar, Viennese-born like Neuburger, was appointed head of the institute. Originally a dermatologist and formerly head of the Department of Dermatology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he later also became Dozent in the history of medicine. Against this background it is evident that major emphasis would be placed under his leadership on dermatology, whereby two further considerations governed Holubar's research interests: firstly, the fact that dermatology holds a distinguished record in Vienna, indeed one that is second to none and equalled only by that of Paris; secondly, that no other clinical specialty than dermato-venereology boasted so many Jewish personalities, at least in German-speaking countries.

Karl Holubar

Thus, from the dark recesses of 20th century history, a further focal point of research into contemporary history has emerged, stimulated by the Medical Faculty's belated recognition in 1998, 60 years after the Anschluss of Austria, of the injustice and horrors committed under the Nazi regime. It is pertinent to note that the first incumbent of the chair in history of medicine at Vienna University (Seligmann), as well as the founder and first head of the present-day institute (Neuburger) were both Austrian Jews. Each contributed enormously to the fame of their alma mater and to their specialty - indeed, to the whole of medicine; yet Seligmann held merely an unpaid position in the department from 1833 to 1850, whilst Neuburger was literally thrown out of his own institute in 1938.


Over the past few years the institute has diversified into three divisions, namely that of the history of medicine in general (Karl Holubar), the medical history museum (Manfred Skopec) and that of ethnomedicine (Armin Prinz), the latter being the first such institution in the German-speaking world.

Furthermore, the institute's collection has been enriched by three wonderful gifts recently. The first was the bequest of a very valuable collection of books owned by Max Wolf, formerly of Vienna, who was forced to emigrate in !938, re-establishing his dermatology practice in New York; the "Max and Margareta Wolf Library for the History of Dermatology" is now permanently established in the institute (arranged by Karl Holubar). Secondly, a likewise very valuable collection of endoscopic instruments is on permanent loan to the institute by courtesy of Hans J. Reuter and his son, Matthias Reuter, and is now displayed in the "Nitze-Leiter Museum of Endoscopy" (arranged by M. Skopec). Thirdly, the library of Erwin Deutsch, the first Austrian haematologist to become distinguished in the field of coagulation disorders, and head of the former "Wenckebach-Klinik", has been bequeathed to the institute.

A collection of ethnomedical objects, as well as an ethnomedical library are currently being completed (under Armin Prinz) and these will prove a further asset to the institute.

In prospect for the first years of the new millennium we look forward to further augmentation of the documentation of medical specialties and preparation of this material for museum display, which now appears to be a feasible project in view of the reallocation of space within the Josephinum following the departure of the Institute for Pharmacognosy. The wealth of the institute's collections in the fields of dermatology, orthopaedics and ophthalmology would make these target specialties for such documentation. However, the availability of adequate funding is a prerequisite for this project.

Karl Holubar
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