Moritz Benedikt

This article is about the Viennese neurologist. For the newspaper editor with a similar name, see Moriz Benedikt.

Moritz Benedikt also spelt Moriz (4 July 1835, in Eisenstadt, Sopron County – 14 April 1920, in Vienna) was a neurologist who worked in Austria-Hungary.

Moritz Benedikt
Born	(1835-07-04)July 4, 1835 Eisenstadt, Sopron County, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	April 14, 1920(1920-04-14) (aged 84) Vienna, Austria
Occupation	Neurologist
Known for	controversial research in criminal anthropology
Medical career
Profession	Physician, Professor
Institutions	University of Vienna
Sub-specialties	electrotherapeutics and neuropathology

Early life and education

He was born in Eisenstadt in Hungary. He got his medical education in Vienna, where he studied under Hyrtl, Briicke, Skoda, Oppolzer, Rokitansky and other well-known teachers, and qualified in 1859.

Career

He was an instructor and professor of neurology at the University of Vienna. Benedikt was a physician with the Austrian army during the Second Italian War of Independence (1859) and the Austro-Prussian War.

Benedikt was a specialist in the fields of electrotherapeutics and neuropathology. His name is lent to the eponymous "Benedikt's syndrome", a disease characterized by ipsilateral oculomotor paralysis with contralateral tremor and hemiparesis caused by a lesion involving the red nucleus and corticospinal tract in the midbrain tegmentum.

Legacy

Benedikt is remembered today for his controversial research in criminal anthropology. He performed numerous cephalometric studies, and postulated that there were specific differences between "normal" and "criminal brains". He explained his research on the subject in a book titled "Anatomical Studies upon the Brains of Criminals" (title of English translation).

Benedikt is credited for coining the word "darsonvalisation" to describe therapeutic or experimental applications of pulsed high frequency (110–400 kHz) high voltage (around 10–20 kV) current of a few mA. Darsonvalisation was named in honor of French biophysicist Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval (1851–1940).

Benedikt also took an interest in dowsing (radiesthesia), writing two books on this subject Leitfaden der Rutenlehre (eng. Guideline to use of Divining Rods) and Ruten- und Pendellehre (eng. Instructions in Diving Rods and Pendulums)

Publications

• Moriz Benedikt: Die psychologischen Funktionen des Gehirnes in gesundem und kranker Zustand, Wiener Klinik: Vorträge; Jg. 1, H. 7, Wien, 1875
• Moriz Benedikt: Zur Lehre von der Localisation der Gehirnfunctionen, Wiener Klinik: Vorträge; Jg. 9, H. 5-6, Vienna, 1875
• Moriz Benedikt: Ueber Katalepsie und Mesmerismus, Wiener Klinik: Vorträge; Jg. 6, H. 3/4, Vienna, 1880
• Moriz Benedikt: Ueber Elektricität in der Medicin, Wiener Klinik: Vorträge; Jg. 10, H. 2, Vienna, 1884
• Moriz Benedikt: Grundformeln des neuropathologischen Denkens, Wiener Klinik: Vorträge; Jg. 11, H. 4, Vienna, 1885
• Moriz Benedikt: Hypnotismus und Suggestion, Breitenstein, Leipzig, 1894
• Moriz Benedikt: Seelenkunde des Menschen als reine Erfahrungswissenschaft, Reisland, Leipzig, 1895
• Moriz Benedikt: Krystallisation und Morphogenesis, Perles, Vienna, 1904
• Moriz Benedikt: Aus meinem Leben: Erinnerungen und Erörterungen, Konegen, Vienna, 1906
• Moriz Benedikt: Biomechanik und Biogenesis, Fischer, Jena, 1912
• Moriz Benedikt: Die latenten (Reichenbach'schen) Emanationen der Chemikalien, Konegen, Vienna, 1915
• Moriz Benedikt: Leitfaden der Rutenlehre (Wünschelrute), Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna, 1916; modern edition ISBN 978-3956922411
• Moriz Benedikt: Ruten- und Pendellehre, Hartleben, Vienna, 1917

Sources

• [1] Moritz Benedikt’s Localization of Morality in the Occipital Lobes
• Short Biography of Moritz Benedikt
• Darsonvalisation @ Who Named It
• Moriz Benedikt (1906). Aus meinem Leben. C. Konegen. p. 299. Aus meinem Leben: Erinnerungen und Erörterungen., Dr Moritz Benedikt, Verlagsbuchhandlung Carl Konegen, Vienna, 1906.