Focusing on the Exception to the Rule for a Time: On the Border Between Life and Death in a Case of Scheintod in 1833
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This article reconstructs the social impact and consequences of Scheintod, literally translated as “apparent death”. The term arose in the German-speaking states at the end of the eighteenth century and served to observe more closely the border between life and death. The article looks at the historical actors, cultural practices and material manifestations involved in a case of Scheintod dating back to the year 1833 in the German province of Westphalia. After witnessing a young man’s three-week state of unconsciousness, a local physician initiated the building of a Leichenhaus as a place to observe the border between life and death. Calling the comatose state Scheintod was embedded in a specific natural philosophy prevalent during the late Enlightenment in the German lands. The case occurred in 1833, on the periphery of academic centres and hubs, where the natural philosophy of the late Enlightenment was still alive. As rare and unusual incidents became crucial for examining the border between life and death, this case illustrates the continuities and discontinuities of the period in determining the time of death, following funeral customs, and caring for the dead. It also serves as a magnifier through which general problems with death in the modern age following the Enlightenment became pronounced: death was highly individualized and its meaning was defined by the feelings and relations of the modern subject.
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6
See Reinhart Koselleck, “Geschichte,” in Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe. Historisches Lexikon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland, edited by Otto Brunner, Werner Conze, and Reinhart Koselleck, 9 vols., vol. 2 (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1972), pp. 593-717; Lucian Hölscher, Die Entdeckung der Zukunft (Frankfurt: Fischer, 1999).
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8
Peter Hanns Reill, Vitalizing Nature in the Enlightenment (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).
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9
Thomas H. Broman, The Transformation of German Academic Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Robert J. Richards, The Romantic Conception of Life. Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe (Chicago: The University of Chicago, 2002); Klaus Pfeifer, Medizin der Goethezeit. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland und die Heilkunst des 18. Jahrhunderts (Cologne: Böhlau, 2000).
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17
Joseph Schmidt, “Ueber Leichenhäuser; nebst einem Falle von Scheintod, der erst nach zwanzig Tagen in Tod überging,” Casper’s Wochenschrift für die gesammte Heilkunde, 1833, 1: 385-394, p. 385.
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21
Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, “Der letzte Liebesdienst,” Amtsblatt der Königlichen Regierung zu Arnsberg, June 29th 1833: 165-167, p. 166.
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25
William E. Burns, Science in the Enlightenment. An Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2003).
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30
Philipp August Pieper, “War der im Jahr 1833 im Hospitale zu Paderborn angeblich beobachtete Scheintodte wirklich ein solcher?,” Medicinische Zeitung herausgegeben von dem Verein für Heilkunde in Preussen, 1842, 11: 135-137.
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32
See Carl Ludwig Close, “Ueber die Gefahr, lebendig begraben zu werden, und mehrere in Beziehung auf dieselbe, zum Theil erst kürzlich, gemachte Vorschläge,” Zeitschrift für die Staatsarzneikunde, 1830, 10: 143-175.
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34
Joseph Schmidt, “Über Scheintod und Scheintods-Häuser,” Magazin für die gesammte Heilkunde mit besonderer Rücksicht auf das allgemeine Sanitäts-Wesen im Königl. Preussischen Staate, 1843, 61: 217-317.
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35
Stadtarchiv Paderborn A 1379.
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37
Stadtarchiv Paderborn A 1379.
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38
Stadtarchiv Paderborn A 1379.
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39
Stadtarchiv Paderborn A 1379.
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40
Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, “Der letzte Liebesdienst,” in Amts-Blatt der königlichen Regierung zu Arnsberg, 1833, 26: 165-167.
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42
Stadtarchiv Paderborn A 1379.
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43
Stadtarchiv Paderborn A 1379.
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45
Stadtarchiv Paderborn A 1379.
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Focusing on the Exception to the Rule for a Time: On the Border Between Life and Death in a Case of Scheintod in 1833
In: NunciusSearch for other papers by Gerlind Rüve in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This article reconstructs the social impact and consequences of Scheintod, literally translated as “apparent death”. The term arose in the German-speaking states at the end of the eighteenth century and served to observe more closely the border between life and death. The article looks at the historical actors, cultural practices and material manifestations involved in a case of Scheintod dating back to the year 1833 in the German province of Westphalia. After witnessing a young man’s three-week state of unconsciousness, a local physician initiated the building of a Leichenhaus as a place to observe the border between life and death. Calling the comatose state Scheintod was embedded in a specific natural philosophy prevalent during the late Enlightenment in the German lands. The case occurred in 1833, on the periphery of academic centres and hubs, where the natural philosophy of the late Enlightenment was still alive. As rare and unusual incidents became crucial for examining the border between life and death, this case illustrates the continuities and discontinuities of the period in determining the time of death, following funeral customs, and caring for the dead. It also serves as a magnifier through which general problems with death in the modern age following the Enlightenment became pronounced: death was highly individualized and its meaning was defined by the feelings and relations of the modern subject.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 226 | 43 | 4 |
| Full Text Views | 68 | 1 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 21 | 1 | 0 |
