Jean-Jacques Rousseau's copy of Albrecht von Haller's Historia stirpium indigenarum Helvetiae inchoata (1768)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau sold his botanical texts to Daniel Malthus (father of Thomas Malthus) about 1775. Two of these are now in the Old Library, Jesus College, Cambridge, but all the rest have long been thought lost. However, a copy of Albrecht von Haller's Historia stirpium indigenarum Helvetiae inchoata (1768) in the Lindley Library, Royal Horticultural Society, London, bears Rousseau's name and seems to have been annotated by him. The volume contains the bookplate of Jane Dalton, a cousin to whom Malthus willed "all[his] Botanical Books in which the name of Rousseau is written". Haller was well-known to Rousseau, who while in exile in the Swiss Jura (1763-1765), studied under one of Haller's collaborators, Abraham Gagnebin. Rousseau cited Haller's entry 762 when describing a species of Seseli to the Duchess of Portland.     

'On mind-blindness (optic agnosia)', a classical clinico-pathological report, and its author Wilhelm von Stauffenberg (1879-1918)

Two photographs from the beginning of our century still instructively illustrate the phenomenon of visual agnosia: the perplexed face of an old lady confronted with objects clears after touching them. This patient with bilateral posterior cerebral infarction was followed for seven years at the Munich Medicine Department of Friedrich von Müller (1858-1941) who had a strong interest in neurology. His assistant Wilhelm von Stauffenberg (1879-1918) reported the case in great detail, including anatomical analysis performed under Constantin von Monakow (1853-1930). Promoted to "Privatdozent" in 1913 on the basis of this report, Stauffenberg's work included several additional, similarly extensive clinico-anatomical case studies but was not limited to problems of cerebral localisation. Under the influence of the Burgh?lzli group in Zürich he started to practice psychotherapy. Stauffenberg, deeply interested also in the arts and in literature, was the physician of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) from 1914. He succumbed to pneumonia in 1918.     

Rewriting Eighteenth-Century Swedish Republican Political Thought: Heinrich Ludwig von Hess's Der Republickaner (1754)

This article provides the first comprehensive and historically genuine analysis of Heinrich Ludwig von Hess's (1719–1784) pamphlet Der Republickaner (1754). Hess was an important figure in both the German and Swedish eighteenth-century political context. Firstly, I will show that the proper historiographical context for Hess's pamphlet is Sweden. In previous historiography on the subject it has been argued that Der Republickaner was a comment on the constitutional reality of Hamburg. My article demonstrates that the original context of Hess's pamphlet was the power struggle between King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and the council of the realm. Secondly, I argue that Hess's pamphlet is the most elaborate defence of aristocratic republicanism written in Sweden in the Age of Liberty (1719–1772). As a result, Hess's pamphlet is the fiercest attack on absolutism written in German in the eighteenth century.     

Antiparacelsismus und Dreieinigkeit. Medizinischer Antitrinitarismus von Thomas Erastus (1524–1583) bis Ernst Soner (1572–1605)

Antiparacelism and Trinity: Medical antitrinitarism from Thomas Erastus (1524–1583) to Ernst Soner (1572–1605). – There were close relationships between Renaissance medicine and antitrinitarianism in 16th and 17th century. Forming an important part of the radical reformation antitrinitarianism won many disciples in the Holy Roman Empire and proved its attraction for physicians. This paper centers on two public scandals in Heidelberg and Altdorf involving the reknown university professors and physicians Thomas Erastus and Ernst Soner. Michael Servetus' new concept of the blood flow through the lungs was discussed in Heidelberg. In Altdorf Caspar Hofmann, Soner's colleague, developed a special theory of the blood flow and corresponded with William Harvey. Erastus and Soner sharply critisized the hermectical and neoplatonical ideas of Paracelsus. Although sympathizing with antitrinitarianism they denounced the Paracelsians as heretics. The Polish antitrinitarians were called Socinians, from Faustus Socinus. Their doctrine tended to be Aristotelic and rationalistic. Soner combined a socinian theology with a heterodox Aristotelianism referring to Andrea Cesalpino. Again after Soner's death some of his pupils and other physicians advocated socinianism in Gdansk (Martin Ruar, Florian Krause, Daniel Zwicker,Valentin Baumgart).     

Blutkreislauf und Dreieinigkeit. Medizinischer Antitrinitarismus von Michael Servet (1511–1553) bis Giorgio Biandrata (1515–1588)

This paper centers on the relationship between renaissance medicine and antitrinitarianism forming an important part of the radical reformation in 16th century. Antitrinitarians denied the theological concept of the triune Christian God. Modern antitriniarianism was first formulated by Michael Servetus, a Spanish physician. The doctrine soon won disciples in northern Italy (Padua, Pisa, Rome) and in some countries of eastern central Europe (Poland, Moravia, Transylvania). Physicians who believed in or sympathized with antitrinitarianism revolutionized the theory of blood flow. They developed new concepts leading to Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood. Parts of Servet's theory looked like Paracelsus's mystical idea of the eternal flesh of the body of Christ (Latin limbus aeternus), but later the medicine and natural philosophy of antitrinitarian physicians tended to be empiristic, rational and sometimes materialistic. They contributed heavily to the diffusion and physiological foundation of antitrinitarian concepts like unitarianism, tolerance and irenism.