Felix Plaut (1877–1940) was a German

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

who was director of the Department of

Serology Serology is the scientific study of Serum (blood), serum and other body fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the medical diagnosis, diagnostic identification of Antibody, antibodies in the serum. Such antibodies are typically formed in r ...

at the ''Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Psychiatrie'' in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. In 1935 he was removed from this position by the Nazis, and subsequently emigrated to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Plaut is remembered for his research on the

syphilitic Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, and ...

origin of

general paresis General paresis, also known as general paralysis of the insane (GPI), paralytic dementia, or syphilitic paresis is a severe neuropsychiatry, neuropsychiatric disorder, classified as an organic mental disorders, organic mental disorder and is c ...

, as well as his work with

August von Wassermann August Paul von Wassermann (21 February 1866 – 16 March 1925) was a German bacteriologist and hygienist. Born in Bamberg, with Jewish origins, he studied at several universities throughout Germany, receiving his medical doctorate in 1888 from ...

(1866-1925) in the development of a serological test for syphilis. Plaut performed extensive research of syphilis and its correlation to psychiatric disorders, and conducted early studies in

neuroimmunology Neuroimmunology is a field combining neuroscience, the study of the nervous system, and immunology, the study of the immune system. Neuroimmunologists seek to better understand the interactions of these two complex systems during development, home ...

involving 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 v ...

's immune reaction to syphilitic infiltration.

Selected writings

* "The Wasserman Sero-Diagnosis of Syphilis in its Application to Psychiatry", translated by Smith Ely Jelliffe and Louis Casamajor (1911); originally published in German in 1909 as ''Die Wassermannsche Serodiagnostik der Syphilis in ihrer Anwendung auf die Psychiatrie''. * ''Leitfaden zur Untersuchung der Zerebospinalflüssigkeit''.

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

: Verlag von Gustav Fischer, (1913). 1st Edition * ''4 Fälle aus der Deutschen Forschungsanstalt für Psychiatrie''; with Walther Spielmeyer: In Franz Nissl’s Beiträge, volume 2, 1; Berlin, (1923).

References

*
The German Research Institute for Psychiatry/Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Psychiatry
German psychiatrists 1877 births 1940 deaths History of psychiatry {{Germany-psychiatrist-stub