Edward Morwitz
Encyclopedia
Edward Morwitz was a physician
and inventor in Germany
and a newspaper
publisher and physician
in the United States
.
, Oriental literature, philosophy
, theology
, and finally medicine
at the universities of Halle, Leipzig
, and Berlin
. In 1841, he received the degree of M.D. from Berlin and was made first assistant of the Hufeland
Clinic there. In 1843, Morwitz made a tour of parts of Germany
, France
, and Switzerland
. On returning to Prussia
, he took up his residence in the town of Conitz, where he practised his profession and his specialty in the treatment of nervous and mental disorders. So successful he was at Conitz that he also started and supported a hospital there for the poor. He began writing his Geschichte der Medicin (History of Medicine).
His attention to medicine was interrupted by the Revolutions of 1848
, when he favored the revolutionaries. His opinions were well known and won him friends, but also enemies. On a certain occasion his carriage was overturned by a group of royalists, and he met with severe injuries, from which, however, he gradually recovered. However, he felt obliged to emigrate.
He had invented a breech-loading gun. Finding no market for this patent in Germany, in 1850 he visited England
and the United States
, but without success. He soon returned to Europe, but having determined to settle in America, again returned to the United States and settled in Philadelphia in 1852.
newspaper Demokrat
which was long edited and published by him. In his conduct of this daily, Morwitz advocated measures for the improvement of the city, among them the consolidation of its different sections under a single mayor. In 1855, he began the publication of a political weekly called Vereinigte Staaten Zeitung (United States Journal), the influence of which was felt in the election of Richard Vaux
as Mayor of Philadelphia in 1856. In the same year, Morwitz started a Sunday paper Die Neue Welt (The New World), which took the place of a Sunday edition of the Demokrat.
In politics Moritz was an active Democrat
, and advocated the election of James Buchanan
as President of the United States
in 1856. For a few years, he freely ventilated his political views in a paper he had purchased, called the Pennsylvanian. This he sold in 1860, when he recognized dangers arising from the separate nominations of Stephen A. Douglas
and John C. Breckenridge as candidates for the presidency. He confined his efforts to the Demokrat, which, thereafter, adopted a neutral policy. He also opened a German dispensary, which, for quite a period, continued its operations among the sick poor.
While, at first, he thought the Civil War
might be averted, Morwitz remained loyal to the Union, and helped to organize and equip regiments sent to the field.
In 1862 he was active in establishing the German Press Association of Pennsylvania
. In 1870 he called a meeting to raise funds for assisting German soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War
. About $600,000 was raised throughout the country and sent to Germany. In 1874, Morwitz purchased the Age, a daily newspaper of Philadelphia published in the English language; but in 1875 he sold it to the Times Publishing Company. He controlled many German-language
and English-language
newspapers in several states, having under his management at one time as many as 300 papers, among them eight dailies.
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and inventor in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
publisher and physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Germany
Morwitz was the son of a wealthy merchant. He studied Semitic languagesSemitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
, Oriental literature, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, and finally medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at the universities of Halle, Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, and Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
. In 1841, he received the degree of M.D. from Berlin and was made first assistant of the Hufeland
Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland
Christoph Wilhelm Friedrich Hufeland was a German physician. He is famous as the most eminent practical physician of his time in Germany and as the author of numerous works displaying extensive reading and a cultivated critical faculty.-Biography:Hufeland was born at Langensalza, Thuringia and...
Clinic there. In 1843, Morwitz made a tour of parts of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. On returning to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, he took up his residence in the town of Conitz, where he practised his profession and his specialty in the treatment of nervous and mental disorders. So successful he was at Conitz that he also started and supported a hospital there for the poor. He began writing his Geschichte der Medicin (History of Medicine).
His attention to medicine was interrupted by the Revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
, when he favored the revolutionaries. His opinions were well known and won him friends, but also enemies. On a certain occasion his carriage was overturned by a group of royalists, and he met with severe injuries, from which, however, he gradually recovered. However, he felt obliged to emigrate.
He had invented a breech-loading gun. Finding no market for this patent in Germany, in 1850 he visited England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but without success. He soon returned to Europe, but having determined to settle in America, again returned to the United States and settled in Philadelphia in 1852.
Philadelphia
In 1853 he purchased the German-languageGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
newspaper Demokrat
Philadelphia Demokrat
The Philadelphia Demokrat was a German-language morning paper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The Demokrat was founded in May 1838 by a number of German-speaking Democrats, for the purpose of supporting David R. Porter as a candidate for governor, against Joseph Ritner. It was the first journal of...
which was long edited and published by him. In his conduct of this daily, Morwitz advocated measures for the improvement of the city, among them the consolidation of its different sections under a single mayor. In 1855, he began the publication of a political weekly called Vereinigte Staaten Zeitung (United States Journal), the influence of which was felt in the election of Richard Vaux
Richard Vaux
Richard Vaux was an American politician. He was mayor of Philadelphia and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania....
as Mayor of Philadelphia in 1856. In the same year, Morwitz started a Sunday paper Die Neue Welt (The New World), which took the place of a Sunday edition of the Demokrat.
In politics Moritz was an active Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, and advocated the election of James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
as President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in 1856. For a few years, he freely ventilated his political views in a paper he had purchased, called the Pennsylvanian. This he sold in 1860, when he recognized dangers arising from the separate nominations of Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
and John C. Breckenridge as candidates for the presidency. He confined his efforts to the Demokrat, which, thereafter, adopted a neutral policy. He also opened a German dispensary, which, for quite a period, continued its operations among the sick poor.
While, at first, he thought the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
might be averted, Morwitz remained loyal to the Union, and helped to organize and equip regiments sent to the field.
In 1862 he was active in establishing the German Press Association of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. In 1870 he called a meeting to raise funds for assisting German soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
. About $600,000 was raised throughout the country and sent to Germany. In 1874, Morwitz purchased the Age, a daily newspaper of Philadelphia published in the English language; but in 1875 he sold it to the Times Publishing Company. He controlled many German-language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
newspapers in several states, having under his management at one time as many as 300 papers, among them eight dailies.
Works
Morwitz published numerous books, among them:- History of Medicine (Leipzig, 1845)
- German-American Dictionary (Philadelphia, 1882) at Google Books