Adolph Albrecht Erlenmeyer (11 July 1822 – 9 August 1877) was a German physician and

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their ...

born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

. He studied medicine in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approx ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

and

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. At the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

he studied under surgeon

Karl Wilhelm Wutzer Karl Wilhelm Wutzer (17 March 1789, Berlin – 19 September 1863, Bonn) was a German surgeon. He studied medicine at the Berlin-Pépinière (military institute), later becoming director of the surgical school at Münster (1821). In 1830 he succe ...

(1789–1863), and after receiving his doctorate from the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Will ...

, he was an assistant to psychiatrist

Carl Wigand Maximilian Jacobi Carl Wigand Maximilian Jacobi (10 April 1775 – 18 May 1858) was a German psychiatrist. Biography He was born in Düsseldorf, the son of philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. He attended the universities of Jena, Göttingen, Erfurt, and Edinbur ...

(1777–1858) at the asylum in

Siegburg Siegburg (i.e. ''fort on the Sieg river''; Ripuarian: ''Sieburch'') is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the banks of the rivers Sieg and Agger, 10 kilometres from the former seat ...

. As a young man, Erlenmeyer was influenced by Jacobi's

somatic Somatic may refer to: * Somatic (biology), referring to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells ** Somatic cell, a non-gametic cell in a multicellular organism * Somatic nervous system, the portion of the vertebrate nervous syst ...

approach to psychiatry, and felt that there needed to be a close unity of psychiatry and

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

. In 1848 he opened a private asylum in Bendorf bei Koblenz that was to become known as ''Asyl für Gehirn- und Nervenkranke''. During the ensuing years the facility expanded, eventually having a department of

(1866) and an "agricultural colony" called ''Albrechtshöhe'' (1867). In 1854 Erlenmeyer became a co-founder of the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und gerichtliche Psychologie'' (German Society for Psychiatry and Forensic Psychology). His son, psychiatrist

Friedrich Albrecht Erlenmeyer Friedrich Albrecht Erlenmeyer (9 March 1849 – 7 July 1926) was a German physician and psychiatrist known for his contributions to the fields of neurology and psychiatry. Early life and education Erlenmeyer was born in Bendorf, Bendorf bei ...

(1849–1926) is remembered for his research of

morphine addiction Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. There ...

.
On the treatment of the morphine habit By Friedrich Albrecht Erlenmeyer

Published works

* ''Die Gehirnatrophie der Erwachsenen'' (Brain atrophy in adults) 1852 * ''Wie sind Seelenstörungen in ihrem Beginne zu behandeln?'' (How psychic disturbances should be treated in their beginning). 1860; Later translated into several languages. * ''Die subcutanen Injectionen der Arzneimittel'' (

Subcutaneous injection Subcutaneous administration is the insertion of medications beneath the skin either by injection or infusion. A subcutaneous injection is administered as a bolus into the subcutis, the layer of skin directly below the dermis and epidermis, co ...

s) 1866 * ''Die Embolie der Hirnarierien'' (

Embolism An embolism is the lodging of an embolus, a blockage-causing piece of material, inside a blood vessel. The embolus may be a blood clot (thrombus), a fat globule (fat embolism), a bubble of air or other gas ( gas embolism), amniotic fluid ( a ...

of the

cerebral arteries The cerebral arteries describe three main pairs of arteries and their branches, which perfuse the cerebrum of the brain. The three main arteries are the: * '' Anterior cerebral artery'' (ACA) * '' Middle cerebral artery'' (MCA) * '' Posterior c ...

) 1867 * ''Die luetischen Psychosen'' (Syphilitic psychoses) 1876.

References

Pagel: Biographical Encyclopedia of outstanding physicians of the nineteenth century.

Deutsche Biographie 1822 births 1877 deaths People from Wiesbaden People from the Duchy of Nassau German psychiatrists University of Bonn alumni {{Germany-med-bio-stub