Page 129 - 80_03

C.
Friedrich

1883).
They
all
created
world-­-class
works.
Yet,
it
is
only
known
to
few
that
some
of

them
were
practicing
the
profession
of
a
pharmacist,
such
as
the
poet
and
novelist

Theodor
Fontane,
like
wise
the
painter
Carl
Spitzweg.
This
should
be
reason

enough
to
take
a
closer
look
at
the
importance
of
pharmacists
for
the
German

cultural
history.
Initially,
artists
arising
from
their
occupation
as
pharmacists
are

considered,
in
the
second
part
it
is
intended
to
examine
the
depiction
of

pharmacists,
i.e.
their
representation
in
visual
arts,
literature
and
music.

WRITING
PHARMACISTS
AT
THE
TURN
FROM
THE
18TH
TO
THE
19TH
CENTURY

Since
the
Renaissance
in
literary
studies,
poets
have
been
regarded
as

imitators
of
nature
and
as
creators
of
an
elevated
new
world.
At
the
end
of
the
18th

and
at
the
beginning
of
the
19th
century
pharmacists,
increasingly
focused
on

nature.
Scientifically
interested
pharmacists
were
involved
with
studies
of
nature

not
limited
to
pharmaceutical
topics.
In
this
period
we
can
find
pharmacists
as

writers
in
the
natural
sciences:
they
composed
works
such
as
chemical,

technological,
botanical,
zoological
and
physical
text-­-
and
handbooks
as
well
as

reference
books
and
studies
in
various
fields
of
the
natural
sciences.
Moreover,
the

pharmacists
Johann
Bartholomäus
Trommsdorff
(1770–1837)
and
Johann

Friedrich
Göttling
(1753–1809)
founded
their
learned
journals
(1).
As
a
matter
of

course
they
appeared
as
authors
of
books
and
magazines.
This
strongly
influenced

their
relation
to
the
written
word.
Unsurprisingly,
such
pharmacists
contributed
to

the
range
of
literature
and
fiction.
Among
these
works
were
e.g.
‘occasional’
poems

for
weddings
or
birthday
parties
as
well
as
for
academic
or
professional
jubilees,

which
were
composed
by
colleagues
or
students
of
the
pharmacist
in
question.
But

beyond
these
pieces
of
work
we
also
find
independent
compositions.

For
instance,
the
pharmacist
and
contemporary
of
Goethe,
Johann

Bartholomäus
Trommsdorff
(1770–1837),
wrote
fairy
tales
resembling
his
poetic

inclination
and
phantasy
(2).
However,
preferred
genres
for
writing
pharmacists

were
autobiographies
and
travelogues.
The
last
of
which
are
commonly
associated

with
the
personal
interests
of
an
author,
in
particular
pharmacists
in
the
botanical

field
gave
detailed
reports
on
their
tours
after
gathering
their
collections.

Autobiographies,
in
contrast,
reflect
much
about
the
contemporary
atmosphere
of

life
and
express
a
certain
literary
talent
when
depictions
go
beyond
professional

occupations.

One
of
the
best
pharmacist
autobiographies
is
‘Memories
from
the
90
Years

of
my
Life’
by
Ernst
Wilhelm
Martius
(1756–1849).
The
history
of
our
research
on

the
emergence
of
this
work
resembles
his
struggle
in
writing
and
placing
his
life
in

the
context
of
his
time.
For
this
reason,
we
find
reports
about
the
conditions
at
the

University
of
Erlangen,
in
particular
regarding
medicine
and
pharmacy,
as
well
as

on
the
French
Revolution
and
famous
contemporaries
such
as
the
Countess
of

602