Weiss, Fyodor Ivanovich von

Born in Revel, in the family of a furrier and fur trader Johann Weiss (Johann Gottfried Weiße (01.27.1750-18.11.1816)) and his wife Anna ur. Boehmer (Anna Rosina Boehmer (d. 08/18/1812)). He received his primary education at home, after which in 1806 he was assigned to the Revel State Gymnasium , which he successfully graduated in 1810 . In the same year he entered the medical faculty of the Imperial University of Dorpat , where he studied with the future famous embryologist - Academician Karl Maksimovich Baer .

In 1812, with the outbreak of war with Napoleon, he was forced to interrupt his studies and went to Riga , which defended itself against the corps of Marshal J. MacDonald . The siege of the city lasted several months, and all this time Johann Weiss assisted the wounded Russian soldiers. The fighting near Riga ended only on December 8, 1812 ^[7] , on the days when the exodus of the remnants of the Great Army from Russia ended. In the spring of the following year, Johann Weiss returned to Dorpat, where he continued his interrupted classes.

It is a known fact that on July 5, 1814, during the university celebrations marking the end of the struggle of Emperor Alexander I against Napoleon , in recognition of the personal merits of Johann Weiss in the defense of Riga, only one of two students was honored to deliver a speech to the assembled comrades , teachers and professors ^[8] .

In 1815, having defended his thesis for the title of doctor of medicine “De Pathologia consensus” (To agreement on the controversial issues of pathology) ^[9] , he graduated from the university with a silver medal.

In the same year, according to the tradition prevailing at the university, Johann Weiss, as the most distinguished graduate, was sent “for scientific purpose” to Europe. In Berlin, he trained under the prominent physicians K.V. Gufeland , E. Horn and K.H. Wolfart ; in Göttingen, he worked with JF Blumenbach ; in Jena , by L. Oken ; in Vienna - in the children's clinic of Professor L. A. Golis (it is traditionally believed that the first children's hospital was opened in Paris in 1802 ^[10] , but in Vienna it already existed in 1794 , and Johann Weiss was the first Russian doctor who interned in it). He also visited the clinics of London and Paris. In 1819, in Heidelberg, he unexpectedly met with his friend Karl Baer. Together they decided to continue their education in Königsberg . However, something did not work out, and Johann Weiss urgently returned to Revel.

In 1820, Johann Weiss decided to seek happiness in St. Petersburg. From that moment on, his entire subsequent working biography will be connected with the capital of the Empire, where he became known as Fedor Ivanovich. At first he took up private practice, but soon after entering the public service, he was identified as a prison doctor and at the same time as a doctor of the 1st ^[11] , 2nd and 3rd ^[12] city ​​gymnasiums.

Chief Doctor of the First Children's Hospital in Russia

At the beginning of the 1830s, on the initiative of Count A. Kh. Benkendorf , member of the Board of Trustees of public charity institutions in St. Petersburg, Count A. I. Apraksin and with the participation of life physician N. F. Arendt , it was decided to organize the first in Russia Children's Hospital for the Poor ^[1] . The military doctor Karl Ivanovich Friedeburg, the hero of the war of 1812 , the doctor of the Life Guards of the Kexholm Regiment ^[13] , and the only doctor in Russia who had the practice of working with children in a European clinic, F. I. Weiss, was brought to life.

The 60-bed hospital was consecrated on December 6, 1834 in the adapted building of the apartment building of Colonel Olivio on Angliysky Prospekt , 36 (often the house of Zhevanov, which was opposite, on the odd side of the avenue, and the Alarchinskaya gymnasium , was mistaken for Olivio's house) . K.I. Friedeburg was appointed the chief doctor, and F.I. Weiss was his assistant. For almost the entire first year of the establishment of the hospital, Dr. Friedeburg was seriously ill. He died in December 1835 , and Fyodor Ivanovich rightfully took his place ^[14] .

The main burden of organizing a new hospital from the first day of its existence fell precisely on his shoulders. The first hospitals in Russia, as well as in Europe, were created, first of all, with the aim of ensuring proper patient care. Medicine did not yet have such technologies that could not be used at home, so wealthy people were treated at home. Hospitals focused on helping the poor — those whose care was not available to their loved ones. The main characters of such a hospital were junior and paramedical personnel. The selection and training of nannies and sisters of mercy was one of the most important tasks of the head physician. Great help in training personnel for the first children's hospital in the capital was provided by the head physician of the St. Petersburg Educational Home , a fellow pediatrician F.F. von Depp . Pupils of his institution, at which the Institute of Midwives existed, most often became sisters of mercy and midwives.

Through the efforts of F.I. Weiss, the authority of the hospital grew rapidly. Soon it took her to move to a more spacious room. Back in 1839, A. N. Demidov donated for this purpose a plot of land on Officer's Street. near the Lithuanian castle and 200 thousand rubles for the construction of a new building. Subsequently, something changed, and in 1842 the hospital moved to an adapted building on Bolshaya Podyachicheskaya St., d. No. 30, which had previously belonged to the military department. In a new place, the number of beds was brought to 100, there was the possibility of separate detention of children with various infections. In addition, the hospital opened its own pharmacy, an outpatient clinic for receiving incoming patients, and expanded the medical staff ^[15] . As for the street. Decembrists (formerly Officer), then in Soviet times, approximately where A. N. Demidov planned, another children's hospital was opened (now No. 17 of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker ^[16] ), although neither he nor his descendants no longer had a relationship.

First Pediatrician - Corresponding Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences

Very soon F.I. Weiss gained a reputation as an excellent pediatrician. His work was marked by many awards (a complete list of awards could not be found). As early as 1833, he became a member of the Medical Philanthropic Committee ^[3] and almost simultaneously - secretary of the German Medical Society ^[17] ; consisted of a doctor at the Demidov workers charity house ^[18] . In 1843, with the assignment of the rank of full state councilor, Fyodor Ivanovich was approved by the hereditary nobility. His name is listed in Part IV of the Noble Genealogy of the Russian Empire.

In addition to his extensive practice, F. I. Weiss was engaged in active scientific activity. He wrote a series of treatises on childhood diseases. His favorite topic was the study of ciliates and simple human parasites. One of the first in the world, he became interested in the study of “animal magnetism”, having published several works on this topic and thereby finding himself at the origins of such a direction in science as electrophysiology . Fyodor Ivanovich made a great contribution to the study of the healing properties of the Staraya Russa resort. As one of the most respected researchers of the simplest organisms, on December 29, 1855, F. I. Weiss was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics Department, subdivision: “Biological Sciences” ^[19] ), thus becoming the first child a doctor in Russia awarded this honor. Soon, he was appointed to be a Life Medic of the Court of the EIV, with the rank of Privy Councilor.

In 1859 , on the day when the hospital turned 25 years old, by monarch's mercy she began to be called "Nikolaev". Three years later, F.I. Weiss resigned. He led a children's hospital for more than a quarter of a century, and in 1862 transferred it to the hands of his pupil Vladimir Egorovich Heidecke ^{[20] [21]} . Having retired, Fyodor Ivanovich soon returned to his homeland in Revel. He lived another 7 years and died in 1869 . One of the first pediatricians of Russia in Reval was buried.

• Wife: Henrieta ur. Stier (Henriette Stier);
• Wife: Johanna ur. von Riediger (Rüdiger) (Johanna Henriette von Rüdiger) (27.5.1815, Mitava - 11.6.1870 Smolensk );

• Daughter: Emilia Fedorovna Weiss.

• Uncle: Johann Gottlieb Weiss (1753-1840) - Master of Philosophy and Theology. For 20 years he was the director of the St. Petersburg gymnasium Petrishule ^{[22] [23]} .

30 Bolshaya Podyachskaya Str., Building of a children's hospital.

• Weisse JF De Pathologia consensus / Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doctors der Medicin. - Dorpat, 1815 . - 84 p.
• Weisse JF Erfahrungen über Arzneiverständige Somnambulen, nebst einigen Versuchen mit einer Wasserfühlerin. - Berlin, 1819 . - 84 p.
• Weisse JF Paris und London für den Artzt, besonders in Rücksicht der öffentlichen Kranken - und Verpflegungsfnstalten geschildert. / 1 stes Bdch. (Schilderung von Paris). Vit 1 Rpf. - St. Peterburg u. Halle, 1820 . - 238 p.
• Weisse JF Kritische Anzeige von acht französischen Schriften über den thierischen Magnetismus / Kiesers Archiv für den their. Magnetismus. Bd. IV. St. 1. - Halle, 1818 . - 109-162 s.
• Weisse JF Anzeige von Danülo Wellansky (Animal Magnetism). - St. Peterburg, 1818 . - 129-144 p.
• Weisse JF Augenblickliche Lösung eines heftigen Starrkrampfs durch magnetische Manipulationen; in den Vermischten Abhandl. aus dem Gebiete der Heilk. / von einer Gesellsch. prakt. Aerzte zu. - St. Peterburg, 1821 . - T. I. - 222-225 p.
• Weisse JF Augenblickliche Lösung eines heftigen Starrkrampfs durch magnetische Manipulationen; in den Vermischten Abhandl. aus dem Gebiete der Heilk. / Einfache Heilung einer Epistaxis, die einen fast 14 tägigen Typus hilt. - St. Peterburg, 1823 . - T. II. - 71-75 s.
• Weisse JF Ueber den Gang der Cholera im Stadtgefängnisse zu St. Peterburg in v. Seidlitz u. Lichtenstädts Mittheilungen über die Cholera - Epidemie zu St. Peterburg im Sommer. - St. Peterburg, 1831 . - 143-154 s.
• Weisse JF Mikroskopische analyse eines organischen polirschiefers aus dem Gouvernement Simbirsk. - St. Peterburg: Académie Impériale des Sciences, 1854 . - 237-250 s.
• Weisse JF Zur Oologie der Räderthiere. - St. Peterburg, 1862 . - 16 p.
• Weisse JF Nachträgliche Bemerkungen in Betreff der Diatomaceen, welche sich im so genannten Mineralschlamme von Staraja Russa befinden. - St. Peterburg, 1861 .
• Weisse JF Nachricht über einem Staubfall, welcher sich im Jahre 1834 im Gouvernement Irkutzk ereignet hat. - St. Peterburg, 1851 .
• Weisse JF Resultate einer vergleichenden mikroskopischen Untersuchung von verschieden Proben der sogenannten Schwarz-Erde (Tscherno-Sjom). - Moscau, 1855 .
• Weisse JF Diatomaceen des Ladoga-Sees. - St. Peterburg, 1864 .
• Weisse JF Verzeichniss aller von mir in einem 30-jährigen Zeitraume zu St. Petersburg beobachteten Infusorien, Bacillarien und Räderthiere. - Moscau, 1863 .
• Weisse JF Notiz in Betreff eines aus Sarepta erhaltenen Staubes. - Moscau, 1865 .
• Weiss F.I. Annual Report of the St. Petersburg Children's Hospital from January 1, 1856 to January 1, 1857. - St. Petersburg: Northern Bee, Saturday May 11, 1857, No. 102.
• Weiss F.I. Analysis of the 2nd and 3rd sections of the work of Mr. Tsenkovsky: On lower algae and ciliates. - St. Petersburg, 1858 . - S. 161-167.

• Order of St. Stanislav 3rd (b. 4th) Art. (1836) ^[24] ;
• Diamond ring with monogram E. I. V. (1840);
• Insignia "For XX years of immaculate service" (1841);
• Order of St. Anne , 2nd art. with the imperial crown (1851);
• Order of St. Vladimir 3rd art. (1854);
• Insignia "For XXXV Years of Immaculate Service" (1855);
• Golden snuff box with monogram E. I. V. (1858);
• Order of St. Stanislav 1st Art. (1865).

Johann Friedrich Weiss is remembered and honored in Germany and Estonia. In St. Petersburg, where F.I. Weiss worked all his life, they practically do not know about him. Meanwhile, the hospital, which is the successor of the first children's hospital in Russia, which Fyodor Ivanovich actually created, today bears the name of another, albeit worthy, but Moscow pediatrician N.F. Filatov . In St. Petersburg there is a good example - the oldest children's hospital, which is named after its founder K. A. Rauchfus . This approach seems fairer.

St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Pediatricians of Russia

The first children's doctors in St. Petersburg:

• Ambodik-Maksimovich, Nestor Maksimovich ;
• Depp, Philipp Philipp von ;
• Lichtenstedt, Jeremiah Rudolph ;
• Nikitin, Alexander Nikitich ;
• Pogoretsky, Peter Ivanovich ;
• Khotovitsky, Stepan Fomich

• Weisse Johann Friedrich / Lexicon, 1832 ;
• Weisse Johann Friedrich / Lexicon, 1834 ;
• Fedor Ivanovich Weiss on the Geni website ;
• Kopytov G. A. Russian Germans at the Cradle of Pediatrics in Imperial Russia / Germans in St. Petersburg: A Biographical Aspect. XVIII– XX centuries Vol. 11 / Res. ed. T.A. Schrader. - St. Petersburg: MAE RAS, 2018 .-- C 228 - 244.
• Weiße, Johann Friedrich / Deutsche Biographie ;
• Weisse Johann Friedrich (von) / Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig
• Schüler-Verzeichnis des Revalschen Couvernements-Gymnasiums 1805-1890 / bearbeitet von Heinrich Hradetzky. - Reval, 1931 .-- 23 p.