An incident which occurred during his student days at Tübingen reveals so strikingly von Haller’s strength of purpose and his unwillingness to permit anything to divert him from the path which he had decided to follow, that I shall not hesitate to relate it briefly here. In company with a few of his fellow students he participated in one of those beer-drinking bouts which are of such frequent occurrence in German university towns, and was in due course of time made acquainted with the legitimate effects that follow such excessive indulgence—effects that are felt as “seediness” and a sense of physical misery (symptoms to which the Germans have given the striking but untranslatable name of Katzenjammer). This single experience sufficed to impress upon von Haller’s mind the folly of such indulgence and he never afterward permitted himself to take part in an excess of this nature.
Although von Haller, upon the death of his father, had been left with very slender financial means, he managed, under the guidance of Albinus, on leaving Tübingen in 1725, to visit Leyden, in Holland, where he was able to prosecute his anatomical researches and at the same time to follow the instruction of Boerhaave, who was still at that period in full possession of his powers as a teacher. Extraordinary as it will appear to the physicians of to-day, von Haller, when only nineteen years old, passed successfully the required examinations at Leyden and was given the degree of Doctor of Medicine (1727).
From Holland von Haller went first to London, where he accepted the invitation of James Douglas, the anatomist, to assist him in his studies of the structure of the bones. Then from there he next visited Paris (1728), where he had for his teachers Le Dran, the distinguished French surgeon, and Winslow, the well-known anatomist. It was his original intention to make a prolonged stay in the French metropolis, but, unfortunately, his ambition to get ahead as fast as possible in the study of anatomy led him to disregard certain precautions which, in the early part of the eighteenth century, it was not at all safe for men interested in this branch of medical science to neglect. Recognizing the fact that, in order to advance his knowledge of anatomy, he must have a certain amount of human dissecting material at his command, and finding that he could procure this material in no other way than by the process commonly known as “body-snatching,” he decided, in association with one of the prosectors of the medical school, to adopt that method of procuring the material needed. The plan was successfully carried out, the disinterred body was transferred to von Haller’s apartment, and the two enthusiastic anatomists had already done a certain amount of dissecting when an unexpected obstacle was encountered. The layman who occupied the adjoining room overheard enough of the conversation that was being carried on between von Haller and his friend to suspect strongly the true nature of the work in which they were engaged. But, to make sure that his surmise was correct, he bored a peek-hole through the partition wall, and thus was able to remove from his mind all doubt about the nature of this work. The police were promptly notified, and von Haller was summoned to appear before the authorities to answer the charge of having disobeyed the law relating to dissections of the human body. Not being able to furnish a satisfactory reply to this charge, and wishing to escape from the severe penalties that would certainly have been inflicted upon him had he been apprehended, von Haller went at once into hiding in Paris and eventually succeeded in making his way over the border into Switzerland.
LAUSANNÆ,
Vignette from the title-page of Haller’s “Elementa Physiologiæ,” Lausanne,
1757
In 1729 he began the practice of medicine in his native city, after having taught anatomy for a short time in Basel; but he took only a subordinate interest in the treatment of disease, his preference being strongly for the scientific and literary parts of medicine. In 1734 or soon afterward he published a collection of his own odes and letters in German verses. These reveal very fully the nobility of his character, his good sense and the high standard of his philosophy. Dezeimeris says that von Haller offers the very first example of a man who has been able to develop to an equal degree his talents of poet and of anatomist.
In 1735 he was appointed Chief Custodian of the Public Library at Berne, and while he held this office he prepared a catalogue raisonné of all the books contained in that collection. At the same time he wrote a classified, chronologically arranged list of the 5000 or more coins and medals which are preserved in the library.
In 1736 the Hanover Regency offered him the professorship of anatomy, botany and surgery in the University of Goettingen, and agreed at the same time to furnish all the money needed for carrying out the extensive plans which he had formed for improving the facilities for teaching these branches of medical science. Von Haller unhesitatingly accepted the invitation, and during the following seventeen years (1736–1753) devoted his time and his best efforts to the fulfilment of the duties which his triple chair involved. Not only did anatomy, botany and surgery greatly thrive during this long period of time, but the university through his intelligent efforts gained in many other directions. It was upon his advice, for example, that the beautiful anatomical theatre at Goettingen was built and equipped. The botanical garden was another of the creations at Goettingen which owed its existence to von Haller. If I were to furnish a list of the improvements which, one after the other, were carried out in the university at his suggestion I would certainly be obliged to mention among other things the following: an establishment in which pupils might receive proper training in anatomical and botanical drawing; the creation of a cabinet of anatomical specimens and of a college of surgery; and finally the founding of a school for midwives. In short, it was largely due to von Haller’s enlightened conception of what such an institution of learning requires and to his untiring efforts that the University of Goettingen became, toward the end of the eighteenth century and during the first half of the nineteenth, one of the leading universities of Europe. Indeed he might justly be called its founder.
Von Haller’s health suffered under this long strain, and he was therefore more than justified in asking the Regency of Hanover for permission to resign and take up his residence in Switzerland. His request was unhesitatingly granted; and, after resting for a few months from his recent labors, von Haller resumed those quiet literary undertakings which he loved so keenly and which enabled him to publish such famous works as the following:—
“Primae Lineae Physiologiae” (First Lines of Physiology), Goettingen, 1747 (also 1751)—the very first systematic treatise on physiology of which we have any knowledge. A German edition was not published until 1759–1776.