150^th birth anniversary of Izidor Brennsohn, Latvian historian of medicine and researcher of Lithuanian anthropology

Aurimas Andriušis, Arnis Viksna¹

Department of Medical History and Ethics, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Lithuania, ¹Faculty of Medicine, Latvian University, Latvia

Key words: history of medicine, anthropology, international relations.

Summary. This publication is dedicated to the 150th birth anniversary of a famous German-writing Latvian physician, historian of medicine, and anthropologist of Jewish descent Izidor Brennsohn, and to his ties with Lithuania. I. Brennsohn’s works on physicians and the development of health care in Kurland, Livland, and Estland laid the foundations for the contemporary historiography of medicine in Latvia and Estonia. To a certain extent, these works could also be viewed as a digest of the sources of Lithuanian history of medicine, especially in regard to the regions on the boarder with Latvia, as well as to various personalities. However, Brennsohn’s most important link with Lithuania was his doctoral thesis “On Lithuanian anthropology” (“Zur Anthropologie der Litauer”), defended at Dorpat (Tartu) University in 1883. It was one of the first works dealing with Lithuanian ethnic anthropology as a whole. Although, material of thesis could not be used for wider generalizations, still, it is one of rare and valuable 19^th century sources of Lithuanian anthropology.

Brennsohn’s legacy deserves greater attention from people researching medical history in Lithuania.

Correspondence to A. Andriušis, Department of Medical History and Ethics, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio 21/27, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania. E-mail: aurimas.andriusis@mf.vu.lt

Received 4 March 2003, accepted 2 September 2004