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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Hermann Brehmer1   4 May 1876

Görbersdorf. | Schlesien.

4 Mai 1876

Sehr geehrter Herr.

Besten Dank für Ihre Antwort vom 22n. April.2 Da ich in meinem frühern Briefe nicht klar genug gewesen bin, so erlaube ich mir meine Brochure beizulegen, in der ich die gn. Frage miterörtere.3 Ich bedaure nur, dass, durch meinen Gegner gezwungen, diese Arbeit einen stark polemischen Character hat.4 Auch handelt sie erst von pag. 40 an von der behaupteten “Rassen-Anamnese” der von Schwindsucht freien Bevölkerung, wobei sehr viel auf Sie und Ihre Lehre Bezug genommen wird sowohl von mir als von meinem Gegner. Es würde mich daher sehr freuen, wenn Sie die Brochure von pag 40 bis pag 85 einer Durchsicht würdigen wollten, und wenn Sie mir das Zeugniss geben könnten, dass ich Sie richtig verstanden habe und nicht mein Gegner.5 Ich hoffe diess um so eher, da ich demselben hauptsächlich vorwerfe, dass er von “Rassen” spricht, die keine morphologischen vererbten Eigenthümlichkeiten besitzen, während doch ohne diese die Selections-Theorie keine “Rasse” kennt. In Rücksicht einiger in Ihrem Briefe erwähnten Puncte erlaube ich mir an dieser Stelle folgendes zu bemerken:

Grade die an Phthise erkrankten Personen haben ein sehr reges sexuelles Leben, das freilich rückwirkend wieder den Verlauf der Phthisis beschleunigt, sie haben oft viele Kinder und; wenn sie in guten socialen Verhältnissen leben, wenden sie Alles an—oft mit gutem Erfolge— um ihre Kinder am Leben zu erhalten. Wir Aerzte konnen daher oft bei Phthisikern die Phthisis durch mehrere Generationen verfolgen. Sollte—was ja an sich nicht unmöglich ist—eine Art von natürlicher Zuchtwahl irgend einen Volksstamm dadurch von Phthisis frei gemacht haben, dass sie alle mit der Tendenz resp. Disposition zur Phthisis behafteten Individuen vernichtet hat: so müsste ein Mitglied dieser freien Bevölkerung von Phthisis auch frei bleiben, selbst wenn es die Heimath der betr. Bevölkerung verlässt, da ja in ihm die Tendenz zur Schwindsucht beseitigt ist. Solche Bevölkerungen sind aber bis jetzt nicht nachgewiesen. Umgekehrt lehrt die Erfahrung, dass die Bewohner einer s. g. freien, immunen Gegend, wie z. B. die Bewohner des höhern Gebirges und die von Island etc ebenso leicht an Phthisis erkranken wie andre Personen, wenn sie ihre Heimath verlassen. Der Isländer erkrankt an Phthisis, wenn er nach Dänemark übersiedelt, wo er die gewohnte—fettreiche—Lebensweise nicht führt. Die Gebirgsbewohner, z. B. die in meiner Schrift oft erwähnten Davoser erkranken an Phthisis, wenn sie in die Ebene Deutschlands ziehen.

Diess ist doch ein Beweis, dass in ihnen die Tendenz, die Disposition zur Schwindsucht durch eine Art von natürlicher Zuchtwahl nicht beseitigt ist.

Die Dänen dagegen erkranken nicht an Phthisis, wenn sie nach Island ziehen und die dort übliche Lebensweise annehmen. Ebenso erkranken die Fremden, welche in die von Schwindsucht freien Orte des höhern Gebirges geschickt werden, durchaus nicht an Schwindsucht.

Man hat vielmehr ferner constatirt, dass bei den Dänen, die bereits an Phthise erkrankt waren, diese Krankheit einen langsamern und günstigern Verlauf nahm, wenn sie nach Island übersiedelten und die dort übliche Lebensweise führten. Ebenso hat man constatirt, dass Phthisiker in die s. g. freien, immunen Gebirge geschickt, dort von der Phthisis geheilt wurden. Von den Bewohnern Graubündens und des Engadins6 ist es namentlich bekannt, dass sie einerseits an Phthisis erkranken, wenn sie einige Zeit hindurch in der Ebene Deutschlands gelebt haben, andererseits aber auch, dass, wenn sie an Phthisis leidend, nun in ihre immune Gebirgs-Heimath zurückkehren, sie wieder gesunder, die Phthisis also heilt.

Hier hat also sicherlich keine natürliche Zuchtwahl gewirkt, denn diese vernichtet ja die Tendenz zur Phthise. Auf diese Wirkung des Gebirgsklimas bei Phthise habe ich vor 29 Jahren zuerst in Europa aufmerksam gemacht und hier in Görbersdorf—in der freien Gegend Schlesiens—ein Sanatorium errichtet, mit dessen Resultaten bei Phthisis man allgemein zufrieden war. Konnte ich doch bei Phthisikern des I Stadiums bis 68% der Patienten Heilung erzielen.

Ich muss freilich bemerken, dass in der letzten Zeit namentlich mein Gegner hervorgehoben hat, diese Heilungen seien nicht dem Klima sondern der von mir eingeführten Heilmethode zu verdanken. Dagegen führe ich besonders an, dass die Aerzte in Peru, wo Phthisis sehr verbreitet ist, ihre Phthisiker auf die Plateaus der Anden bei Jauja etc schicken und auch Resultate erzielen, wenn auch langsamer und nicht so überraschende wie bei mir.

Da nun dort oft nicht einmal Aerzte anwesend waren, so kann also der Einfluss einer Heilmethode dabei nicht stattgefunden haben.

Zu diesen Mittheilungen hielt ich mich auf Grund Ihres freundlichen Schreibens für verpflichtet. Es sollte mir ausserordentlich lieb sein, wenn ich durch Sie die Bekräftigung erhalten könnte, dass ich Ihre Schriften richtig verstanden und in Rücksicht der gn. Frage Ihre Lehre auch richtig angewendet habe.7

Mit der Versicherung der grössten Hochachtung und Verehrung bin ich | Ihr | ergebener | Dr. H. Brehmer.

[Contemporary translation]

Many Thanks for your answer of the 22nd. April. As I did not explain myself very clearly in my letter, I permit myself to send you my pamplet in which I discuss the whole question. I am sorry that compelled by my opponent this work has a strong polemical character.

It treats first on page 40 of the mantained Race … of populations free from consumption in which you and your theory have come into the question as well by me as by my opponent. It would therefore rejoice me if you would honour my pamphlet from page 40 to 85 with a look through, & if you could give me the sign that I have understood you aright & not my opponent. I hope this because I have chiefly reproached him, that he speaks of Races which possess no morphological inherited peculiarities, whilst without these, the Selection Theory recognises no race. In reference to some points mentioned in your letter, I permit myself to remark as follows.

Just those people ill of Physis have a very active sexual life, which certainly working backwards makes quicker again the course of Phthisis; they have often many children, & if they live in good social circumstances, they take every means often with good success in order to keep their children alive.— We doctors can therefore often in consumptive people follow consumption throu of many generations. If (what is not possible in itself) if a sort of Natural Selection had made any race of people free from Phthisis, in that it had destroyed all individuals subject to Phthisis, then a member of this population free from Phthisis must remain free even if he leavs the home of the before named population, as in him the tendency to consumption is put on one side.

Such populations are however till now not to be pointed out. On the contrary experience teaches that the inhabitants of a so call free region as for example the inhabitants of the high mountains and of Iceland, fall ill of Phthisis just as easily as other people if they leave their home. The Icelander falls ill of Phthisis if he emigrates to Denmark, where he has the same way of life. The mountaineers as f⁠⟨⁠or⁠⟩⁠ e⁠⟨⁠xample⁠⟩⁠ the D⁠⟨⁠avosen⁠⟩⁠ often ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ my writings fall sick of ⁠⟨⁠Phthisis⁠⟩⁠ when they go to the ⁠⟨⁠plains⁠⟩⁠ of Germany. This prove⁠⟨⁠s⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ tendency to ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ consump⁠⟨⁠tion⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ put on ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ of Natur⁠⟨⁠al Selection⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠  The Dan⁠⟨⁠es⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ do not a⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ consumption when ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ they go to Iceland & there take the accustomed way of life. Also strangers who are sent to the mountains free from consumption do not fall ill of it. Further it has been ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ror ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ the D⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ that these ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ due to ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ to a heal⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ It is known that when the inhabitants of the Engerdines are sometime in the plains of Germany they fall ill of Phthisis, but if they are suffering from from Phth⁠⟨⁠isis⁠⟩⁠ & go back ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ him ⁠⟨⁠th⁠⟩⁠eir mountains they ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ not a⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠p⁠⟩⁠osition to ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠  Here [illeg]side by a kind ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ Natural Selection.

Upon ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ the contrary ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ mo⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ consumption when⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ upon ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ 23 years ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ in the f⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ have ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ the results of which Phthisis gave general satisfaction. If I could give healing to people ill of Phisis of the first stadium to P ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ must certainly remark that in latter times my opponents brought ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ cures ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ of climate but rather ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ing method ⁠⟨⁠i⁠⟩⁠ntroduced ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠wards doctors is ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ There⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ Particularly ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ Peru whe⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ is very widely ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ send their patient suffering from Phthisis ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ the ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠ Plateau Andin near Juanja, & also reached results if slower & not so conclusive as mine. As there were often not even doctors present, therefore the influence of a healing method cannot have been the cause.

I felt that I owed this explanation because of your friendly writing. It would be exceedingly dear to me if I could receive from you the decision that I have rightly understood your writings.

With great respect | etc. | your devoted

Footnotes

For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I. A contemporary translation found with the letter is included above.
CD’s letter has not been found; it was a reply to Brehmer’s letter of 17 April 1876.
In his letter of 17 April 1876, Brehmer mentioned his pamphlet Beiträge zur Lehre von der chronischen Lungenschwindsucht. In Form einer Antwort auf die Attentate des Dr. L. Rohden (in Lippspringe) gegen den Verfasser und dessen Arbeiten (Contributions to the theory of chronic consumption. In the form of a response to the attack of Dr. L. Rohden (of Lippspringe) upon the author and his work; Brehmer 1876). CD’s copy of Brehmer 1876 is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
Brehmer’s polemic was a response to Ludwig Rohden’s arguments in Rohden 1875 (see letter from Hermann Brehmer, 17 April 1876 and n. 3).
The pages cited by Brehmer contain a detailed refutation of Rohden’s argument, focusing particularly on Rohden’s use of quotations from Descent, contrasted with Brehmer’s own interpretation of the same passages. The pages of this section are uncut in CD’s copy of Brehmer 1876.
The Engadin is a long valley in the the Swiss Alps. It is in Graubünden, the most easterly canton in Switzerland.
No reply from CD has been found.

Bibliography

Brehmer, Hermann. 1876. Beiträge zur Lehre von der chronischen Lungenschwindsucht. In Form einer Antwort auf die Attentate des Dr. L. Rohden (in Lippspringe) gegen den Verfasser und dessen Arbeiten. Breslau: Maruschke & Berendt.

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

Rohden, Ludwig. 1875. Beiträge zur Lehre von der chronischen Lungenschwindsucht. In Form einer Polemik gegen die Arbeiten des Dr. Brehmer zu Görbersdorf. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh.

Translation

From Hermann Brehmer1   4 May 1876

Görbersdorf. | Silesia.

4 May 1876

Dear Sir.

Many thanks for your reply of 22d April.2 As I was not sufficiently clear in my earlier letter, I take the liberty of enclosing my pamphlet, in which I discuss among others the problem in question.3 I only regret that, being forced by my opponent, this work has a very polemical tone.4 Also, not until page 40 does it address the issue of the alleged “race history” of populations that are free from consumption, as a result of which there are frequent references to you and your theory, both by myself and by my opponent. I would therefore be very glad if you would check from page 40 to 85 of my pamphlet, and if you could confirm that I and not my opponent correctly understood you.5 I hope for this all the more as I chiefly criticise him for speaking of “races” that have no hereditary morphological characteristics, while however the theory of selection recognises no “race” without these. Regarding a number of points you raised in your reply, permit me to comment as follows.

Persons suffering from phthisis have a particularly active sex life, which of course again accelerates the course of phthisis. Frequently they have many children and if they live in good social conditions they do everything—often with good success—to keep their children alive. We, the doctors, therefore can often trace phthisis through several affected generations. If—and this is not inconceivable—some kind of natural selection has made any one tribe immune to phthisis due to the fact that all individuals with a tendency towards a susceptibility to phthisis have been wiped out: then a member of this immune population must remain immune to phthisis even on leaving the native region of the observed population, for the susceptibility to consumption has been eliminated. However, such populations have not been detected up to now. On the other hand, experience teaches us that the inhabitants of a so-called free, immune region, such as e.g. the inhabitants of the higher mountains, of Iceland etc fall ill with phthisis just as easily as other people, when they leave their native region. Icelanders fall ill with phthisis when they relocate to Denmark, where they discontinue their previous—high fat—diet. Mountain dwellers, e.g. the inhabitants of Davos, whom I often refer to in my pamphlet, fall ill with phthisis when they move to the plains of Germany.

But this is proof that the tendency, the susceptibility to consumption has not been eliminated in them through a kind of natural selection.

Danes, on the other hand, do not fall ill with phthisis if they move to Iceland and adopt the customary way of life there. Likewise foreigners who are sent to so-called free, immune zones in the higher mountains do not fall ill with phthisis there.

It has furthermore been established that in Danes who were already ill with phthisis the disease took a slower and better course once they moved to Iceland and once they adopted the customary lifestyle there. Likewise it has been established that consumptives sent to the so-called free, immune mountain regions were cured from phthisis there. On the one hand it is known particularly that the inhabitants of Graubünden and the Engadin6 fall ill with phthisis if they have lived for some time continuously in the plains of Germany, but on the other hand it is also known that if, suffering from phthisis, they return to their immune mountain-home, they are again healthier, the phthisis therefore clears up.

In this instance, natural selection has surely not played a role, for it would have eliminated the tendency to phthisis. I was the first in Europe, 29 years ago, to draw attention to this effect of the mountain climate on phthisis, and here in Görbersdorf—in the free region of Silesia—, I founded a sanatorium whose success in the treatment of phthisis was generally satisfactory. I could achieve, however, with consumptives in the first stage of the disease, a recovery rate of 68%.

I must however note that recently it has been maintained, particularly by my opponent, that these recoveries are not due to the climate, but to the therapeutic methods introduced by me. Against this I refer especially to the physicians of Peru, where phthisis is widespread, who send their consumptives to the plateaus of the Andes near Jauja etc and who also get results, even if more slowly and not as spectacular as mine.

Since there were often no physicians present there, therapeutic methods cannot have influenced the result.

I felt your kind letter obliged me to communicate these matters to you. I would be exceedingly pleased if I could receive confirmation from you that I have interpreted your works correctly and also applied your theory correctly to the question at hand.7

Assuring you of my highest respect and veneration, I remain | Your | devoted | Dr. H. Brehmer.

Footnotes

For a transcription of this letter in its original German, and a contemporary translation, see pp. 150–2.
CD’s letter has not been found; it was a reply to Brehmer’s letter of 17 April 1876.
In his letter of 17 April 1876, Brehmer mentioned his pamphlet Beiträge zur Lehre von der chronischen Lungenschwindsucht. In Form einer Antwort auf die Attentate des Dr. L. Rohden (in Lippspringe) gegen den Verfasser und dessen Arbeiten (Contributions to the theory of chronic consumption. In the form of a response to the attack of Dr. L. Rohden (of Lippspringe) upon the author and his work; Brehmer 1876). CD’s copy of Brehmer 1876 is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
Brehmer’s polemic was a response to Ludwig Rohden’s arguments in Rohden 1875 (see letter from Hermann Brehmer, 17 April 1876 and n. 3).
The pages cited by Brehmer contain a detailed refutation of Rohden’s argument, focusing particularly on Rohden’s use of quotations from Descent, contrasted with Brehmer’s own interpretation of the same passages. The pages of this section are uncut in CD’s copy of Brehmer 1876.
The Engadin is a long valley in the the Swiss Alps. It is in Graubünden, the most easterly canton in Switzerland.
No reply from CD has been found.

Bibliography

Brehmer, Hermann. 1876. Beiträge zur Lehre von der chronischen Lungenschwindsucht. In Form einer Antwort auf die Attentate des Dr. L. Rohden (in Lippspringe) gegen den Verfasser und dessen Arbeiten. Breslau: Maruschke & Berendt.

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

Rohden, Ludwig. 1875. Beiträge zur Lehre von der chronischen Lungenschwindsucht. In Form einer Polemik gegen die Arbeiten des Dr. Brehmer zu Görbersdorf. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh.

Summary

Encloses article on local immunity to tuberculosis. Has he interpreted CD’s views correctly? Believes the immunity notable in areas like Iceland or mountain areas is due to local conditions, not natural selection. Describes his sanatorium in mountains of Silesia and medical criticism of his work.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10496
From
Hermann Brehmer
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Görbersdorf (Wabrzych)
Source of text
DAR 160: 287–8
Physical description
ALS 10pp (German), trans 9pp damaged

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10496,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10496.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24

letter