Johann Christian August Clarus (5 November 1774 – 13 July 1854) was a German

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

and

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

from Buch am Forst near

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

. In 1798 he obtained his medical doctorate from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, where from 1803 to 1820, he served as an associate professor of anatomy and surgery. He also served as

city physician City physician (German language, German: ; , , from Latin ) was a historical title in the Late Middle Ages for a physician appointed by the city council. The city physician was responsible for the health of the population, particularly the poor, ...

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 ...

. From 1820 to 1848 he was a professor of clinical medicine at the university as well as senior physician at Jacobshospital in Leipzig. In 1840–1841 he served as university rector. From 1848 onward, he worked in his private medical practice. On 24 August 1821, he was called upon to write a report on the mental condition of confessed murderer Johann Christian Woyzeck (1780–1824). After meeting with Woyzeck, Clarus maintained that he was accountable for his actions, despite the fact that he suffered from hallucinations. Later on, he was asked to write a second report. He met with Woyzeck several more times, and reached the same conclusion as in his initial report. Clarus' writings on the mental state of Woyzeck were published with the title and subsequently used as a source by dramatist

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchn ...

for the stage play '' Woyzeck''. Clarus died in Leipzig in 1854.

Selected writings

* "Topographiae botanicae et entomologicae Lipsiensis", (with Christian Friedrich Schwägrichen), 1799. * ''Der Krampf in pathologischer und therapeutischer Hinsicht'', 1822 - Spasms from a pathological and therapeutic perspective. * ''Die Zurechnungsfähigkeit des Morders Johann Christian Woyzeck'', 1824 - On the sanity of murderer Johann Christian Woyzeck. * ''Beiträge zur Erkenntniss und Beurtheilung zweifelhafter Seelenzustände'', 1828 - Contributions to the knowledge and judgment of dubious psychological states. * "Adversaria clinica", 1846.WorldCat Identities
(published works)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarus, Johann Christian August 1774 births 1854 deaths German surgeons People from Lichtenfels (district) Academic staff of Leipzig University Rectors of Leipzig University