[Schiller and the history of medicine]

Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), one of the most renowned German poets, also received a professional training (1776-80) as surgeon at the military academy at Stuttgart. It is almost unknown that Schiller received a formal education in medical history during the first year of his academic curriculum. His exam in medical history included the public defense of 38 Latin theses presenting historical interpretations, philological criticism and an evaluation of 18th century medicine side by side. These theses had been compiled by his teacher Johann Friedrich Consbruch, who recommended an eclectic use of contemporary knowledge and was an adherent of Haller's experimental medicine. This paper presents a thorough examination of these doctrines in historical perspective. As our investigation shows, at Schiller's time medical history as an academic discipline was primarily used to emphasize medicine's significance as a healing art and to ascertain the practicing physician's professional identity.