Rudolf Arndt

Rudolf Gottfried Arndt (31 March 1835 – 29 January 1900) was a German psychiatrist from Bialken, district of Marienwerder.

Biography

Arndt studied in Greifswald and Halle. As a student, his instructors included Felix von Niemeyer (1820–1871), Heinrich Adolf von Bardeleben (1819–1895), and Heinrich Philipp August Damerow (1798–1866).^[1] He was conferred doctor of medicine on 20 February 1860. From 1861 he maintained a private practice, and also participated in the Second Schleswig War (1864), Austro-Prussian War (1866) and Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).

In 1867 he obtained his habilitation, subsequently serving as director of the Irren-Heil- und Pflege-Anstalt in Greifswald. In 1873 he became an associate professor of psychiatry at Greifswald.^[2] He died of angina pectoris.^[3]

He is known today for the "Arndt-Schulz rule", a pharmacologic principle of homeopathy that is named in conjunction with German chemist Hugo Schulz (1853-1932).^[4] He is also remembered for his investigations of neurasthenia.^[5][6]

Awards and decorations

• Order of the Crown, 4th class with Swords (Prussia, 1866)
• Iron Cross of 1870, 2nd class on white-black band (Prussia, 1871)
• Knight's Cross, First Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion (Baden)

Selected writings

• Aus einem apoplectischen Gehirn, 1878 - On the apoplectic brain.
• Die Neurasthenie (Nervenschwäche), ihr Wesen, ihre Bedeutung und Behandlung, 1885 - Neurasthenia (nerve weakness), its nature, its meaning and treatment.
• Der Verlauf der Psychosen, 1887 (with August Dohm) - The course of psychosis.
• Was sind Geisteskrankheiten?, 1897 - What is mental illness? ^[7]

See also

• Arndt-Schulz rule

References