Johann Christian August Clarus (5 November 1774, Buch am Forst near

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

– 13 July 1854,

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 ...

) was a German

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

and surgeon. In 1798 he obtained his medical doctorate from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, where from 1803 to 1820, he served as an associate professor of anatomy and surgery. From 1820 to 1848 he was a professor of clinical medicine at the university as well as senior physician at ''Jacobshospital'' in Leipzig. In 1840/41 he served as university

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

. From 1848 onward, he worked in his private medical practice. On 24 August 1821, he was called upon to write a report on the mental condition of confessed murderer Johann Christian Woyzeck (1780–1824). After meeting with Woyzeck, Clarus maintained that he was accountable for his actions, despite the fact that he suffered from hallucinations. Later on, he was asked to write a second report. He met with Woyzeck several more times, and reached the same conclusion as in his initial report. Clarus' writings on the mental state of Woyzeck were published with the title "''Die Zurechnungsfähigkeit des Morders Johann Christian Woyzeck''" and subsequently used as a source by dramatist

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büch ...

for the stage play "''

Woyzeck ''Woyzeck'' () is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by Karl Emil Fr ...

''".

Selected writings

* "Topographiae botanicae et entomologicae Lipsiensis", (with Christian Friedrich Schwägrichen), 1799. * ''Der Krampf in pathologischer und therapeutischer Hinsicht'', 1822 - Spasms from a pathological and therapeutic perspective. * ''Die Zurechnungsfähigkeit des Morders Johann Christian Woyzeck'', 1824 - On the sanity of murderer Johann Christian Woyzeck. * ''Beiträge zur Erkenntniss und Beurtheilung zweifelhafter Seelenzustände'', 1828 - Contributions to the knowledge and judgment of dubious psychological states. * "Adversaria clinica", 1846.WorldCat Identities
(published works)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarus, Johann Christian August 1774 births 1854 deaths German surgeons People from Lichtenfels (district) Academic staff of Leipzig University Rectors of Leipzig University