Johann Christian Reil

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Johann Christian Reil (20 February 1759 - 22 November 1813) was a German physician, physiologist, anatomist and psychiatrist. He was the first to use the word "Psychiatrie" or Psychiatry, in 1808.

Medical conditions and anatomical features named after him include Reil's finger, Beau-Reil cross furrows on the fingernails and the Islands of Reil in the cerebral cortex.

From 1788 to 1810 he worked in a hospital in Halle, Germany. In 1795 Reill established the very first journal of psychology in German, the Archiv für die Physiologie. In 1810 he became one of the first university teachers of psychiatry when appointed professor in Berlin. From 1802-1805 the poet Goethe visited him to discuss scientific matters such as psychiatry, as well as to access his skills as a physician. Reill died in 1813 from typhus contracted while treating the wounded in the Battle of Leipzig, later known as the Battle of the Nations, one of the most severe confrontations of the Napoleonic Wars.

[edit] Literature

• Marneros, Andreas (2005): Das Wort Psychiatrie wurde in Halle geboren. ISBN 3-7945-2413-6

[edit] References

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