Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1183

CHRISTOPH WILHELM HUFELAND (1762-1836) Die Kunst das menschliche Leben zu verlängern. In der akademischen Buchhandlung 1797 xxiv, 696 pp., plate (front.). 20.3 cm.

Hufeland, one of the most successful and respected physicians of his time, graduated in medicine from Göttingen in 1783. He initially succeeded his father and grandfather as court physician at Weimar where he came to know as patients and friends Goethe, Schiller, and their brilliant circle. In 1793 he was called to Jena as professor and went to Berlin in 1800 as royal physician, director of the medical college, and chief physician at the Charité. Hufeland was a leading figure in nineteenth-century medical journalism, editing four journals, and was also a prolific author. In addition to general medicine, he wrote on pediatrics, cholera, popular medicine, epidemiology, and vaccination for smallpox. His outspoken support for vaccination played a major role in its eventual adoption in Germany. The present work on the prolongation of life was, in later editions, called Makrobiotik. It had a profound influence on the health practices of the day and many of his concepts are still followed. The book enjoyed a phenomenal success, was quickly translated into all major languages, and went through numerous editions.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 1602; Wellcome III, p. 310

Gift of John Martin, M.D.