The pharmacy in Gersfeld/Rhoen and Veit Jakob Metz (1792-1866)

A "Privileg" for a pharmacy in Gersfeld (Rhoen) was issued October 26, 1788 by the ruler of Gersfeld, the Reichsfreiherr Amand von Ebersberg (1747- 1803), to Peter Franz Wilhelm Feuchter (1766-1835). Feuchter was not only a dedicated pharmacist but also scholarly active both by publishing and by serving on various journal editorial boards. Vitus Jacobus Metz (1792-1866) was accepted 1808 as an apprentice in the pharmacy and later enjoyed private lessons from Feuchter (until around 1813, when he gave up the study of pharmacy to pursue medical studies in Würzburg). This major decision was possibly influenced by Metz experiencing the outcome of a dispute between pharmacist Feuchter and the physician Andreas Laubreis (*1778), dispute with an outcome favoring the physician. As a physician Metz great achievement was to establish 1830 the Mariannen-Institut, the lying-in asylum in Aachen, Bendelstrasse, the first such institution in Germany. How revolutionary and way ahead of its time the Mariannen-Institut really was can only be understood considering that it took over half a century until a similar institution, the second one in Germany, opened in Düsseldorf. With this short contribution we attempt to shed some light on the life and family of Veit Jakob Metz from Römershag (Bad Brückenau) and on the Gersfeld pharmacy, the place that played such a major role in shaping his personality.