Biesalski, Konrad and Demonomaniac Possession

BIESALSKI, Konrad (Konrad Biesalski), a scientist known for his work in the field of combating disability; born in 1868 in East Prussia. He graduated from the University of Berlin in 1894. As a student of the famous surgeon Korte and the pediatrician Heubner, Biesalski dedicated all his energy to the organization of a systematic campaign against childhood disability. On his initiative, an all-German census of juvenile invalids was conducted in 1906, and the German Society for the Fight Against Disability was founded, uniting all institutions for the disabled in Germany. In 1915, Biesalski was offered a chair in orthopedics at the University of Berlin, which he declined, remaining the director of the 'Oskar-Helene Heim' clinic. This model institution, designed for 350 beds, is the central research institute for the fight against disability in Germany and combines a clinic, a school, and a vocational technical school for the disabled. The most important works of Biesalski are: 'Umfang und Art des jugendlichen Krüppeltums und der Krüppelfürsorge in Deutschland', 'Orthopädische Versorgung u. Erwerbsfähigkeit der Gehbehinderten', 'Die physiologische Methode der Sehnenverpflanzung', 'Untersuchungen über Knochengelenktuberkulose', and others. DEMONOMANIAC POSSESSION (demonomania), a concept derived from the notion that a person's actions and speech are dependent on an 'evil spirit' that has entered or taken control of them. The delusion of possession is encountered in the mentally ill, mainly in manic-depressive psychosis (melancholia) and schizophrenia. In the former, it grows out of a gloomy mood with ideas of sinfulness; in schizophrenics, it apparently arises from disturbances of muscle sensation, which give the patient a feeling of the forced nature of their actions and a peculiar disorder of thinking characteristic of this disease. The idea of possession is also found in hysterics, who use it to explain certain manifestations of their illness (convulsive seizures, involuntary actions, etc.). In our country, the idea of possession received a peculiar expression in 'klikushestvo' (see). The view of the mentally ill as being possessed by 'evil spirits' is inherent to uncultured peoples of all times (in our country: 'porcheny' [spoiled/cursed], 'besnovaty' [possessed], 'besheny' [rabid]). With the spread of Christianity, it acquired the significance of a major social factor that left its dark imprint on the entire history of the Middle Ages. During this time, under the influence of the oppression of the Catholic clergy, extensive demonomaniac epidemics (of a hysterical nature) appeared, for the treatment of which torture and bonfires were employed. A countless multitude of mentally ill people perished under the guise of being sorcerers and possessed. The last witch was sentenced to death in Switzerland as late as 1782. In Russia, there were no such large epidemics of possession as in Western Europe, but the belief in curses, witchcraft, etc., still cost a large number of patients their lives here as well. The burning of sorcerers by court sentence ceased in the middle of the 17th century; however, vigilante justice against them was carried out until the second half of the 19th century. Hysterical epidemics with ideas of demonomaniac possession continue to the present day (the last epidemic was described in the Moscow Governorate in 1926).