[Between Griesinger and Kraepelin--Ludwig Meyer (1827-1900): anatomist and reform psychiatrist]

Ludwig Meyer worked as resident psychiatrist, scientist and university teacher in Berlin, Schwetz, Hamburg and for the longest time in Göttingen. He promoted social psychiatry, i. e. extramural treatment, "Milieutherapie" within the institution and especially the non restraint system. Mention should be made of the casuistic works, in which Meyer connected clinical and neopathological methods, morphologic studies of progressive paralysis and--beyond psychiatry--the discovery of "Progenie" in anatomy. Forensic psychiatry he saw as an expert task as well as a medical task. In the training of psychiatrists Meyer broke new ground. Ludwig Meyer is the most important representative of the late 19th century. His work was mainly influenced by Griesinger's concepts (1868). Within the following thirty years Meyer further developed these concepts and added ideas of his own. In Meyers works Kraepelin's clinical methods and pluralistic psychiatry already shine through.