title: [The search for "od." Karl Ludwig Freiheer von Reichenbach (1788-1869) and Karl Wilhelm Mayrhofer (1806-1853), two joined against Justus von Liebig].
abstract: The author describes the controversy between Justus von Liebig on one side and Reichenbach and Mayrhofer on the other side. It is a controversy about problems of science and medicine which are characteristic for the late 18th and the first half of the 19th century, when Mesmerism and similar ideas of occultic and comparative phenomenona were discussed and often refused as being "not scientific". Justus von Liebig and Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Reichenbach were both chemists, both interested in scientific progress and working in this field. They were friends in the years 1830 to 1848. But later on this friendship ended when Reichenbach--who in the mean time moved to Vienna--became more and more interested in phenomenons seen by sensitive persons concerning effects of light. Although Reichenbach himself was not able to recognize the phenomenons he was sure that other persons had this ability. He had the impression that there is a special force floating through the universe, and this force he called "od". Liebig, who was not able to follow this theory and rejected it has speculation, turned against Reichenbach in 1852-3. So the controversy began and their old friendship came to an end. Reichenbach's theory of the "od", characteristic for the time of the romanticism and leading back to Mesmerism was accepted and supported by the Austrian physician Dr. Karl Wilhelm Mayrhofer who had aroused his interest by describing similar phenomenos some of this patients had. The letters of both men, the chemist and the doctor, which are well preserved (Technical Museum of Vienna) and discussed here, give a good impression of Reichenbach's ideas concerning his theory of the "od" and his philosophical ideas. As Reichenbach tried to find a philosophy corresponding to his theory and as he meant to have found this in the philosophy of Friedrich Eduard Beneke his remarks in those letters give a good information about Beneke's discussion of Reichenbach's theory. Mayrhofer, on the other hand, following Reichenbach's theory of the "od", rejected Beneke's philosophy because he himself joined another philisophy on the basis of the christian religion. However, when Reichenbach's latest book on these problems appeared in 1854, Beneke and Mayrhofer had died shortly before and no further discussion was possible. But Reichenbach's theory, based on the ideas of Mesmerism, and the controversial discussion about new explanations of the phenomenona seen by sensitive persons are characteristic for this time and also for our time as such perceptions are not entirely denied but thought over in a new way.
mesh_terms: D001317:Austria; D002621:Chemistry / Q000266:history*; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century
vernacular_title: Auf der Suche Nach dem "Od" Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Reichenbach (1788-1869) und Karl Wilhelm Mayrhofer (1806-1853), zwei Verbündete contra Justus von Liebig.