Lisitsyna E A
The Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany,
Probl Sotsialnoi Gig Zdravookhranenniiai Istor Med. 2021 Jul;29(4):1011-1016. doi: 10.32687/0869-866X-2021-29-4-1011-1016.
The article analyses the process of establishment of medical knowledge concerning territories of the Russian Empire in XVIII century on the basis of written heritage of the Prussian physician Johann Jacob Lerche (1708-1780). The analysis is focused on forms of actual medical geographical studies practiced by European doctors and Lerche himself, first of all on his meteorological observations. The Lerche's interpretations of local natural and social phenomena in construction of medical characteristics of particular corners of the Empire in manuscript about endemics in Russia and Persia are analyzed. The assumption is proposed that studies of Russia implemented by Lerche are constructed on the analogy of summarizing academic descriptions of naturalists of XVIII century. Thereby, the works of Prussian physician seems to be participated in process of development of language of systematization and ranking of diseases and endowed category of "disease" with function of inherent to region characteristic such as climate, flora and fauna.
