Julius Wagner - his father
Adolf Johann Wagner was granted the title "Ritter von Jauregg"
only in 1883 -was born on March 7, 1857, in Wels, Austria. He attended
the famous old Schottengymnasium in Vienna and started reading medicine
at Vienna University
in 1874.
From 1874 to 1880 he studied with Salomon Stricker, in the Institute of
General and Experimental Pathology, obtaining his doctor's degree in
1880 with a thesis entitled "L'origine et la fonction du coeur accélére"
(Origin and function ofthe accelerated heart). He left the Institute in
1882. It was during this period that Wagner-Jauregg became acquainted
with the use of laboratory animals in experimental work - a practice
little followed at that time.
For a short period he worked in the Department for Internal Diseases
under Bamberger, but gladly accepted the post of assistant to Leidesdorf
in the Psychiatric Clinic in 1883, although he had never previously
considered the possibility of becoming a psychiatrist and had
practically no experience of this specialized field. Nevertheless, he
was invited to lecture on the pathology of the nervous system already in
1885 and three years later this field was extended to include psychiatry.
In 1887 his chief, Leidesdorf, fell ill and Wagner-Jauregg took charge
of the clinic. In 1889 he was appointed Extraordinary Professor at the
Medical Faculty of the University
of Graz as successor to Krafft-Ebing and Director of the
Neuro-Psychiatric Clinic. It was there that he started his
investigations on the connections between goitre and cretinism; on his
advice the Government, some time later, started selling salt to which
iodine had been added, in the areas most affected by goitre.
In 1892 followed the appointment to the "Landesirrenanstalt"
(State Lunatic Asylum) and in 1893 he became Extraordinary Professor of
Psychiatry and Nervous Diseases, and Director of the Clinic for
Psychiatry and Nervous Diseases in Vienna, as successor to Meynert. Ten
years later, in 1902, Wagner-Jauregg moved to the psychiatric clinic at
the "Allgemeines Krankenhaus" (General Hospital) as this
offered more scope and a more varied activity. However, when in 1911 the
"Landesirrenanstalt" was rebuilt and enlarged on the outskirts
of Vienna at Steinhof, thus making the setting up of a larger
psychiatric-neurological department, Wagner-Jauregg returned to his
former post.
Wagner-Jauregg's initial study was concerned with the origin and
function of the N. accelerantes, and this was followed by another on the
respiratory function of the N. vagus.
The main work that concerned Wagner-Jauregg throughout his working life
was the endeavour to cure mental disease by inducing a fever. Already in
1887 he systematically investigated the effects of febrile diseases on
psychoses, later also making use of tuberculin (discovered in 1890 by Robert
Koch). As this and similar methods of treatment did not yield
satisfactory results, he turned in 1917 to malaria inoculation, which
proved to be very successful in the case of dementia paralytica. This
discovery earned him the Nobel Prize in 1927. His numerous other
distinctions included the Cameron Prize (1935)
Among his numerous publications may be mentioned: Myxödem und
Kretinismus, in the Handbuch der Psychiatrie, (1912); Lehrbuch
der Organotherapie (Textbook of organotherapy), with G. Bayer,
(1914); Verhütung und Behandlung der progressiven Paralyse durch
Impfmalaria (Prevention and treatment of progressive paralysis by
malaria inoculation) in the Memorial Volume of the Handbuch der
experimentellen Therapie, (1931).
Wagner-Jauregg occupied himself also intensively with questions
concerning forensic medicine and the legal aspects of insanity; he
assisted in formulating the law regarding certification of the insane,
which is still in force in Austria today. In recognition of his services
to forensic medicine he was awarded the diploma of Doctor of Law.
Wagner-Jauregg was judged by his pupils and friends to be rather
reserved, cool and aloof, but was generally respected, and all his
students were proud to work under him. He worked very hard and
conscientiously, and was well known for his sense of justice. Among his
numerous pupils should be mentioned C. von Economo, who in 1917 isolated
epidemic encephalitis (since then also called Economo's disease) - a
discovery giving rise to the abolishment of certain classical views in
neurology.
Professor Wagner-Jauregg married Anna Koch. There were two children from
this marriage: Julia (b. 1900) now Mrs. Humann-Wagner Jauregg, and
Theodor (b. 1903) now "Privatdozent" in Chemistry at the
University of Vienna.
In 1928, Wagner-Jauregg retired from his post in Steinhof, but was by no
means idle, publishing about 80 scientific papers after his retirement.
He enjoyed good health and remained active until his death on September
27, 1940.
From
Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1922-1941.
