Carl Franz Moeli (10 May 1849 – 4 November 1919) was a German

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

and psychiatrist born in Kassel. He studied medicine in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

followed by work as an assistant at clinics in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. In 1880 he became an assistant to Karl Westphal (1833–1890) in the psychiatric clinic at the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

- Charité. At the Charité he performed anatomical studies of the

optic nerve In neuroanatomy, the optic nerve, also known as the second cranial nerve, cranial nerve II, or simply CN II, is a paired cranial nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. In humans, the optic nerve is derived fro ...

, research involving the pupillary reaction of mental patients, the effects of syphilis on the

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

, and clinical studies of

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

. In 1883 he received his habilitation for psychiatry, and during the following year worked as an assistant medical director at the ''Städtische Irrenanstalt Dalldorf'' in Berlin. In 1893 he became the first director of the newly built ''Irrenanstalt Herzberge'', a position he maintained until 1914. Also he played an important role as adviser to the German government in regards to mental health issues. One of Moeli's better known assistants at Herzberge was neurologist

Karl Birnbaum Karl Birnbaum (August 20, 1878 in Schweidnitz/ Świdnica – March 31, 1950 in Philadelphia) was a German-American psychiatrist and neurologist. Career In 1902 he received his doctorate from the University of Freiburg, and subsequently working at ...

(1878–1950). Moeli died on 4 November 1919 in Berlin. He is best remembered for his work in

forensic psychiatry Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiat ...

. He performed extensive research involving the

forensic Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...

relationship of alcoholism and alcoholic

psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...

. He had particular interest in so-called "degenerative personalities" and associated psychoses.

Written works

* ''Alcoholismus, psychische Störung; atrophische Lähmung der Extensoren am Oberschenkel''. (Alcoholism, mental disorder, atrophic paralysis of the extensors of the

thigh In human anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip ( pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb. The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of ...

); Charité-Ann. 1881 * ''Eine Bemerkung zur Säufer-Epilepsie''. (A note on "drunken-

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

"); Neurol. Centralbl. (1885) * ''Ueber irre Verbrecher. I. Krankengeschichten. II. Ueber den Zusammenhang von Geistesstörung und Verbrechen. III. Ueber Feststellung des Geisteszustandes. IV. Die Simulation von Geisteskrankheit. V. Die Behandlung und Unterbringung irrer Verbrecher). Berlin, 1888 * ''Zur Erinnerung an Carl Westphal. Rede''. (In memory of Carl Westphal. Speech). Berlin, 1890 * ''Behandlung der Vergiftungen mit Weingeist''. (Treatment of alcohol poisoning) with handbook), d. spec. Therap. inner. Krankh. vol. 2. Jena, 1894 * ''Ueber psychische Schwäche in ihren verschiedenen Formen''. (About mental weakness in its various forms); Preuss. Med.-Beamten-Ver. Off. Ber. 11, ss. 136-148 (1894) * ''Weitere Mittheilungen über die Pupillen-Reaction''. (Further communications about pupillary reaction); Berl. klin. Wchnschr. 34, ss. 373; 401 (1897) * ''Demonstration des automatischen Excenter; Rotationsmikrotoms''; Herzberge (Kaplan, Krefft, G. Meyer). Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie (1900) * ''Ueber die vorübergehenden Zustände abnormen Bewustseins in Folge von Alkoholvergiftung und über deren forensische Bedeutung''. Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie (1900) * ''Die Fürsorge für Geisteskranke und geistig Abnorme, nach den gesetzlichen Vorschriften, Ministerial-Erlassungen, behördlichen Verordnungen und der Rechtsprechung, ein Handbuch für Ärzte und Verwaltungsbeamte''. (The care for the mentally ill and the mentally abnormal, according to legal regulations, ministerial decrees, administrative regulations and case law, a manual for physicians and administrators); Halle a. S. 1915.

References

* ''This article is based on an article on Carl Moeli from the German Wikipedia'', namely: ** Carl Moeli †. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten 61, 3, 760–763, 1920 ** Karl Moeli †. Mschr Psychiat Neurol 46: 294-308 (1919) ** Karl Birnbaum, Karl Moeli (1849-1919). In: Theodor Kirchhoff (Hg.): Deutsche Irrenärzte. Einzelbilder ihres Lebens und Wirkens, Bd. II. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1924, S. 258-62 {{DEFAULTSORT:Moeli, Carl Physicians from Kassel 1849 births 1919 deaths German psychiatrists German neurologists