Dorothea Erxleben

Dorothea Erxleben
Born	Dorothea Christiane Leporin (1715-11-13)13 November 1715 Quedlinburg, Kingdom of Prussia, Holy Roman Empire
Died	13 June 1762(1762-06-13) (aged 46) Quedlinburg, Kingdom of Prussia, Holy Roman Empire
Education	University of Halle
Scientific career
Fields	Medicine

Dorothea Christiane Erxleben (13 November 1715 – 13 June 1762) was a German medical doctor who became the first female doctor of medicine in Germany. Educated by her progressive physician father and rector of her school, she desired to attend medical school and study medicine like her brother. She eventually petitioned Frederick the Great of Prussia to allow her entry into the University of Halle. Despite a Royal permission to attend, Erxleben never entered University. When her cousin died, leaving five children, she decided in 1741, at the age of 26, to look after them, married widower Johann Christian Erxleben and went on to have four children with him.

In 1747, due to economic constraints, the mother of nine children began to practice medicine in Quedlinburg without a degree, and became highly respected by the towns people. However, local physicians who felt their monopoly on medical services was threatened filed a law suit, charging her with medical quackery. In January 1754, the king ruled that Erxleben would have to pass an examination and submit a dissertation at the University of Halle. Her inaugural dissertation was titled Concerning the Swift and Pleasant but for that Reason less than Full Cure of Illnesses, in which she argued against the prophylactic use of strong laxative, purgatives and perspiratory agents as it was practiced at that time. She pointed out that doctors were too quick to prescribe unnecessary cures like opiates for illnesses that did not require them and made suggestions regarding their correct usage and dosage, as well as best interventions to promote menstruation and urination. She spent another 8 years practicing medicine in her hometown of Quedlinburg until she died of breast cancer.

Early life

Dorothea Erxleben was born Dorothea Christiane Polycarp Leporin on 13 November 1715, in the small town of Quedlinburg, Germany to the town’s progressive doctor, physician Christian Polycarp Leporin and his wife Anna Sophia, née Meinecke Her father home schooled his children and noticed her excelling at her schoolwork early on in life, as well as her general brightness. He arranged for her to be tutored in Latin, math and the sciences alongside her brother Tobias. When asked about his daughter’s studies, Christian Polycarp Leporin was noted as saying that gifted women’s talents are being wasted in the kitchen. The Leporin family embraced the new ideas of the Age of Enlightenment, such as the values of Germany’s Bürgertum, which led to Christian’s belief that both of his children should receive the best education possible.

Later she attended the Gymnasium (Germany) where the rector gave her writings by Anna Maria van Schurman and Olympia Fulvia Morata. Through him she also heard that Laura Bassi, an Italian physicist and academic had become doctor of philosophy at the University of Bologna. Bassi was the first woman in the world to be a professor at a university.

Both siblings were introduced into medicine by their father. Her brother Tobias planned to study medicine at the University of Halle, and his sister wanted to follow him.

She petitioned King Frederick the Great of Prussia to allow her entry into the University of Halle. Frederick the Great approved this request in April of 1741.

University application, admission and marriage

Erxleben’s admission into university was both criticized and admired. Critics like Johann Rhetius, a pamphleteer, argued that women were by law forbidden to practice medicine and therefore earning a degree in such a field would be a waste of time. Although Erxleben never publicly remarked on the controversy behind womens education, she began to write down her arguments and opinions on the topic, which were published in 1742 as a book titled A Thorough Inquiry into the Causes Preventing the Female Sex from Studying. Her protofeminist book argued for Germany to take advantage of the talents of half of its population, while her father wrote a foreword that described the need for reform in Germany’s universities and how the admittance of women would spur this long-needed change.

Despite her University admission, Erxleben did not enter University immediately. In 1742, at the age of 26, she married auxiliary priest Johann Christian Erxleben, the husband of her recently deceased cousin, who already had five children. Their marriage was a generally happy one, and she went on to have four children with Johann over the next few years. Despite being busy at home for years managing her nine children, she was able to continue her medical studies at a slower pace.

Career

House in Quedlinburg where Dorothea Erxleben lived and worked

In 1747, her father died and her husband's health began to deteriorate, leaving the Leporin family with serious debts. To pay off these debts, Erxleben began to practice medicine in Quedlinburg even without a degree, and became highly respected by the town. During her 4th pregnancy in 1753 one of her patients died. Three local physicians charged her with medical quackery and filed a law suit. They felt their monopoly on medicine was threatened. Despite lack of proof, she was prohibited to continue to practice.

The case rose through the courts and was brought before Frederick the Great in January 1754. The king ruled that Erxleben would have to pass an examination and submit a dissertation at the University of Halle, and with the support of the university's rector, she did just that in 1754. Her medical inaugural dissertation was titled Concerning the Swift and Pleasant but for that Reason less than Full Cure of Illnesses, in which she argued that doctors were too quick to prescribe unnecessary cures. She stated that doctors intervened too quickly to prescribe medicines like opiates for illnesses that did not require them and made several suggestions regarding the proper use of purgatives, best interventions to promote menstruation and urination, as well as the correct usage and dosage of opiates. Erxleben's dissertation quickly spread throughout Germany, particularly among women with health problems, and Erxleben even translated the dissertation from Latin into German to make it more accessible to the poor. On 12 June 1754, Dorothea Erxleben received her M.D. degree, becoming the first woman in Germany to do so.

She spent the next 8 years practicing medicine in her hometown of Quedlinburg and died of breast cancer on 13 June 1762.

Legacy

For nearly 150 years, German medical history did not see another woman. Only in the early 20th century would women once again become admitted into German medical schools.

However, she is still a pioneer in this field for women and for her ideas about opiates and the proper use of medicines.

At the University of Halle Medical School a learning centre is named in her honor. Clinics and foundations have been named after her.

On 17 September 1987, the German Federal Post Office issued a 60 pfennig postage stamp for the purpose of honoring Dorothea as part of its stamp series "The Women of German History".

On 13 November 2015, Google celebrated her 300th birthday with a Google Doodle.

Further reading

• Howard, Sethanne (2007). "SCIENCE HAS NO GENDER: The History of Women in Science". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 93 (1): 1–15. JSTOR 24536249.
• Poeter, Elisabeth (2008). "Gender, Religion, and Medicine in Enlightenment Germany: Dorothea Christiane Leporin's Treatise on the Education of Women". NWSA Journal. 20 (1): 99–119. doi:10.1353/ff.2008.a236182. JSTOR 40071254.
• Schiebinger, Londa (1990). "The Anatomy of Difference: Race and Sex in Eighteenth-Century Science". Eighteenth-Century Studies. 23 (4): 387–405. doi:10.2307/2739176. JSTOR 2739176.
• "The First Lady Doctor". The British Medical Journal. 1 (2416): 952. 1907. JSTOR 20294024.
• Ludwig, H. (September 2012). "Dorothea Christiana Erxleben (1715–1762): Erste promovierte Ärztin in Deutschland". Der Gynäkologe. 45 (9): 732–734. doi:10.1007/s00129-012-3031-8.
• Bolter, Christina (December 2002). Dorothea Erxleben: Eighteenth-Century Role Model for Today's Working Parent (Thesis). hdl:10125/7060.