Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen Seen Through His Own Eyes a Review of His Memoirs
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I NTER:'\ .\TIOXAL JOURXAL OF LEPROSY Volume 41 . Numher 2 Prill ted ill Ihe U.S.A. Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen Seen Through His Own Eyes A Review of His Memoirs ¢ivind Larsen 1 In the course of the century which has vations to the new great hospitals of the elapsed since the discovery of the leprosy first half of the century and to thei r labora bacillus in 1873 by C. H. Armauer Hansen tories. (1841-1912 ), several biographers and med Following Louis Pasteur's ( 1822-1895) ical historians have stressed the importance extension of the general knowledge of the of this event. 2 life and activity of microorganisms through The life span of C. H. Armauer Hansen his fermentation studies, the road was open covers a period when bacteriology was a for thorough investigations designed to de growing specialty in medical science. Ear termine whether or not whole series of lier suggestions that certain diseases might diseases might have infectious etiologies. be associated with infectious organisms New results and achievements foll owed were partly confirmed during the· 1830's each other at short intervals, especially in whcn fungi were demonstrated . in certain the decade beginning with 1877 when Pas skin diseases. In the middle of the 19th teur turned his interest to human bacteriol century, a series of severe epidemics lay as ogy, and even more when Koch in 1882 scourges over European towns and indus found the tubercul.osis bacillus. These trial centers, where poverty and bad sani findings led to further enthusiasm for bac tary conditions made the dense 'populations teriology as a whole. Now that the immedi extremely vulnerable. However, the epi ate cause of a wide range of hitherto unex demics had yielded scarcely any evidence plained common diseases could be demon regarding thc course of their contagion. strated, general medical interest was more Thereforc, a great interest in the problem directed at the specificity and etiology of of contagiousness was quite natural. disease, than to the mere description of The small er bacilli were more difficult to symptoms and functions in the diseased observe than the fungi. Nevertheless, the human body. anthrax bacillus was demonstrated by Pol· Born in 1841, Armauer Hansen's active lender in 1849, and by Davaine and Rayer years lay just within this important period in 1850. The microorganisms were found in of transformation and development in med the blood of animals which had died from icine. In his education and in his work as a the disease. Thus, further use of the micro physician and as an investigator, we know scope in the search for disease causative that he closely watched what was happen microorganisms was an obvious approach. ing in the medical world. He then applied Additionally, at this time the scene of the the new ways of thinking to the fi eld of most successful proceedings and discov prime interest to himself, and also to Nor eries in medical research were shifting from wegian medicine, namely leprosy. that of the house physician's bedside obser- Some of the investigators working on epidemiology and bacteriology were suc I ~i vind Lar~en , M.D., Doccnt , Section of Mcdical History. l'ni\'c rsity of Oslo, Oslo. :'\ol'\l'a),. cessful due to their technical skill and to 2 A cO lllprche11'ivc biography has been published the quality of their scientific methods as a hy the :'\ol'\n.:gian hacteriologist. Thomas Mart in whole. Hansen undoubtedly was among "ogelsa ng (H), in 1968, and a short bill penetrat ing survey hy Irg'ellS (0) , in 1~7 3. HOII'('\('I', a~ these these. On th e other hand, many enthusiasts arc IHillen in :'\ol'\n'gian. rderl'ncc is gilCll to failed in their search for microorganisms. SOIllC or the Illore illlportant a rticles in English on For some of them the explanation was Arm:tucr Ha n sen a ncl his discovery e. n. 10. 1 t) , and 'on the leprosy situation in :'\ol'\l'a)' (I. 7. R. t~). quite simple. They were not clever enough. 208 41, 2 Armauer Hansen Memoirs 209 S;. 9lrmo(Jer !J/l.lnSen ~ivserindrinfler Ofl CZ3etrafltninfler Kristiania 1910 - Forla{!t OJ) H. Asc/ze/zoug & Co. (W. Nygaard) C . Armauer Hansen, Memoirs and Contelllplations. (Till e page) 210 Intel'llotiol1a l j OIl/'/wl of L epl'osy 1973 Others, however, perhaps quite as goou taught at a school for yO llng !J(lYS . I Ie scientists as many of their coll eagues who descril )( 's hi s c1ass('s in zoology and botany, later dewlopct! great nan)es, fail ed simply ant! we ullderstand that he had a praglll at because they were seeking microorganisms ie vicw of what the youn g pllpils had to in di seases where nonc coult! bc found, learn and what Illll St be rcgardeu as dead misl ed by theori es ant! hypotheses which kn owledge to them. proved to be wrong. Therefore, it is diffi At the time when he arri veu in Chris cult to assess correctl y the historical signifi ti ania, it seems that Annauer HansclI \\';IS a cance of famous men of achievement from rel igious man. lIe wrote that he prayed this vivit! period of progress. For some, cvery day and wcnt to cllllrch on SUllday. th ei r own impressions of thcmselves help in To judge from his nH'lll oirs, he apparcntly our (' valuati on. In the case of Armauer turncu in the cO llJ'se of a few studcllt years rT ansen we have to some degrce an oppor into an atheist, a devel opmcnt whi ch tunity to compare what we know about meant mueh to him, and apparently prcdi s him with his own worus because, in 1910, posed to his deep personal (,OJllIII itlllent he published, in Norwegian, his memoirs when he encountered the works of Charles (4). This was a volume of 142 small pages, D arwin. reAecting views and contemplations of his Hansen descrihed himself as an inquisi life experi ences. This presentati on is based ti ve student, interested in following hi s on that publication. own observations. This led him into some Armaun Hansen was born in Bergen, conflict with his Ill cdical teachers, hut, nev and through all his life remained a devoted ertheless, the reader gets a charming im son of this city. In the first chaptcr he pression of the relationship between profes describes his childhood and youth in this so rs and students at the still very small town on the west coast of Norway. A rich university. Hansen, however, was of the trade with IOll g traditions had made Ber opinion that the contact b etween the stu gen into a center in many ways, but when a dents in Christiania and the intellectual life youngster wanted to go to a Norwegian in the rest of Europe was not very good. univCl's ity, he had to leave for Christiania, Some discussions were held in private cir the capital situated in the eastern part of cles, for instance, on the relationship be the country. Thence, Armauer H ansen tween religion and natural sci ences. These journeyed. questions interested Armauer IIansen The second chapter describes his student deeply and in his book he presented a life in Christi ania. H e tells that he and his severe criticism of the way the men of the fell ows spent an interesting time, but as his church defended their views against the father had inadequate resources for supply new thoughts on evolution. in g him with money, Hansen had to fin ance Throughout the year of 1867, the first his studies by means of vari ous jobs. At year after his fin al medical cxamination, first, he found work as an "informator" H ansen worked as a physician at the Uni which meant a sort of house teacher- for versity H ospital in Christiallia. After that H erman Schirmer, who was later to be he went to Lofoten, a fi shing district of come an architect. In this home he was northern Norway, to work during the sea treatet! as a fri end of the house and could son as a physi ciall to the fi shermen. His look back to it with veneration and grati description of this time among the native tude. A subsequent job in a young girls' population, and of the dramatic voyage school did not turn out so succcssfull y. H e from Bergen to Lofoten which lasted for 21 had to leave this job and return to Bcrgen days, bein g hampered by a fi ercc winter for lack of money. We read, however, that a storm, shows that he learned much about month later, 11{' got a letter fr orn his teacher the practical fun ction of the medicin e he in anatomy who asked him to work for him had been taught in the rather sheltered and during hi s own stay abroat! . This teaching quite different mili eu of the uni versity city, of anatomy and his own medical studies more than 1,000 km to the south. cl earl y interested him very much. H e also In the fourth chapter he rclated how he 41, 2 Armaller Hansen Memoirs 211 first encountcrcd th e dreadful state of thc rcmoved from the battlefi eld, but dead leprosy patient when he obtain ed a posi men and horses werc still scattered all ti on as a doctor at thc leprosy hospital in over. Hc was dceply impressed by this hi s native town of Bergen.