Gerald van Swieten

Gerald van Swieten (May 7th 1700 with Leyde, June 18th 1772 with Vienna) is a Médecin of origin Dutch E having exerted in Austria.

Eminent pupil of Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738), it became in 1845 personal doctor of the empress Marie-Therese (1717-1780) and for this reason, had a big role in the organization of the departments of health and the university of Austria. He introduced in particular the first formation in clinical Médecine of the country while making there enter experimentation and observation. He also created a Botanical garden and a laboratory of Chimie. It is him which invited Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727-1817) to settle in Austria where he will become the leader of the Botanique country. Von Jacquin dedicated later to G. van Swieten the Swietenia of méliacées , whose species Swietenia mahogany represents the principal variety of wood of Acajou.

It dealt of anatomy, pathology and improved the treatment of the venereal diseases, by imagining a liquor which treated the Syphilis. It reorganized the Medical colleges of the universities of Prague and Freiburg. In addition, it improved the situation of the people interned in lunatic asylums and that of the orphans.

The son of Gerald van Swieten, Gottfried van Swieten (1733-1809) was as-with him especially known to have been the guard of Mozart.

Beside its medical activities van Swieten also dealt with reforms. Thus it transformed the mode of the censure, withdrawing it with the Jésuite S which of it were charged without success until there. He endeavoured to find methods scientific and rational to judge the books.

In some of its research, it supported the reality of the Vampire S, which it ensured in the Convention of Belgrade. There gave for example some cases of corpses remained intact and of suspect deaths around the tombs, in Austria, but he ends up giving up the compilation of the cases of vampirism which he had undertaken, at the same time by loathing and because the subject exceeded it. That proves at least that it enjoyed to make research on about all and that it endeavoured to find methods scientific and rational to consider as well the businesses mysterious as the religious books.

He knew several languages, he helped the poor of the empire and he directed many searchs for students who had talent for medicine.

Works

Commentaria in Hermanni Boerhaave aphorismos of cognoscendis and curandis morbis (5 parts, 1742-1772).
Constitutiones epidemicae (2 volumes, 1782).
Diss. of arteriae fabrica and efficacia in corpore humano (It passed its doctorate with this work in 1725).

Source

Translation of the article of English language of Wikipédia (version of October 12th, 2005).

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