The Meteorology and Medicine of the Romantic Era in Context

Abstract

This article introduces to a wider public a hitherto unknown report written by the "Romantic" natural philosopher and mineralogist Henrik Steffens (1773-1845). In the 1811 report Ideas on Medical Meteorology, commissioned by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior via the physician Johann Christian Reil (1759-1813), Steffens argued for a new, "organic" perspective on meteorology focusing on interrelations between the atmosphere and diseases among humans and animals. This new outlook, he argued, was to be realized via a series of observations directed by the state administration. Excerpts from the report are translated and commented upon in order to illuminate their context. These show the report to be part of a significantly older European tradition of inquiry into the connection between changes in the atmosphere and health. A speculative variation of this tradition, for which the general term "Organic Meteorology" is introduced here, was ignited in German-speaking regions through Schelling's natural philosophy. The report and its context show that the Prussian state was willing to engage with "Romantic" natural philosophy, that Steffens gladly provided expertise for this purpose, and that this was part of a more general effort to professionalize medicine.