Friedrich Albrecht Erlenmeyer (9 March 1849 – 7 July 1926) was a German physician and

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

known for his contributions to the fields of

neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...

and

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

Early life and education

Erlenmeyer was born in Bendorf bei Koblenz, the son of psychiatrist Adolph Albrecht Erlenmeyer (1822–1877). He studied medicine at the Universities of

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, Halle and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

and

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

, earning his doctorate in 1872 at

with a dissertation titled ''Uber das cicatricielle Neurom''.

Career

Afterwards he became directing physician at his father's asylum for ''Gemüts- und Nervenkranke'' at Bendorf. He published a large number of writings in the fields of

and

, which included articles in foreign publications such as Tuke's "Dictionary of Psychological Medicine", as well as in German works such as Penzoldt- Stintzing's ''Handbuch der speciellen Therapie innerer Krankheiten''. In 1878, he founded the neurological/psychiatric journal ''Centralblatt für Nervenheilkunde, Psychiatrie und gerichtliche Psychopathologie''. In 1895 with

William Thierry Preyer William Thierry Preyer or Wilhelm Preyer (4 July 1841 – 15 July 1897) was an English-born biochemist, physiologist and psychologist who worked in Germany. He worked as a professor of physiology at the University of Jena and then at Berlin. Study ...

(1841–1897) and Wilhelm Langenbruch (1860-1932), he founded ''Die Handschrift, Blatter fur wissenschaftliche Schriftkunde und Graphologie'', a scientific journal dealing with

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

and

graphology Graphology is the analysis of handwriting in an attempt to determine the writer's personality traits. Its methods and conclusions are not supported by scientific evidence, and as such it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology has been ...

. In 1887, he described

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

as the third deadly "plague" for humanity, after

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

and

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

. It follows an article by

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

praising this substance as a remedy for morphine addiction.

Selected writings

* ''Die Schrift; Grundzüge ihrer Physiologie und Pathologie'' (

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, 1879) – * ''Über statische Reflexkrämpfe'' (second edition.

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

1885) – "On static reflex spasms. * ''Die Principien der Epilepsiebehandlung'' (

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

1886) – The principles of

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

treatment. * ''Die Morphiumsucht und ihre Behandlung'' (third edition-

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

1887) –

Morphine addiction Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is an opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as an analgesic (pain medication). There are ...

and treatment. * ''Unser Irrenwesen, Studien und Vorschläge zu seiner Reorganisation'' (Wiesbaden 1896) – Our asylum system, studies and proposals for its reorganization. * ''Die Entmündigung wegen Trunksucht nach dem B. G. B.'' (

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

1899). ** Publications by Erlenmeyer that have been translated into English: * "On the treatment of the morphine habit", translated from German by George S. Davis, 1889.
World Cat Identities

References

Pagel: Biographisches Lexikon
(biography and written works) {{DEFAULTSORT:Erlenmeyer, Friedrich Albrecht 1849 births 1926 deaths People from Bendorf People from the Rhine Province German psychiatrists German neurologists University of Greifswald alumni Recipients of the Order of Vasa