Heinrich Quincke (1842–1922) and the social hygiene movement

Abstract

Heinrich Irenaeus Quincke can be considered one of the most versatile and innovative medical scientists and inventors of his time. Both lumbar puncture and the treatment of lung abscesses are largely due to Quincke. Quincke’s edema (angioedema) was also named after him. A historical trace from Quincke’s early Berlin period sheds new light on the personal and political background regarding his two appointments to Bern in 1873 and Kiel in 1878.

On the one hand, this work is based on a literature search of historical journals and other publications from around 1870. On the other hand, a recently discovered original material is evaluated. This is a letter from Quincke with the place/date “Berlin, 4 August 72”, in which he registers for the “45th Assembly of German Naturalists and Physicians in Leipzig.”

Quincke had personal contacts with the early social hygiene movement, which was partly rooted in Switzerland. This movement was later popularized by the psychiatrist Auguste Forel (1848–1931), among others.

A work on the outbreak of the Wrocław relapsing fever epidemic (Febris recurrens, “relapsing fever”) in 1868 may have played an important role in the early social hygiene movement. It describes in a very impressive way the catastrophic social and hygienic conditions in the city’s slum, which were directly linked to the outbreak of the epidemic. The relapsing fever may have had similarities with today’s Lyme disease.