Karl Friedrich Heusinger

Life & Legacy

Karl Friedrich Heusinger (28 February 1792 – 5 May 1883) was a German pathologist who was a native of Farnroda.
He studied medicine in Jena and Marburg, and afterwards was an assistant to Karl Gustav Himly (1772–1837) at the University of Göttingen. In 1813 he served as a military doctor in the Prussian Army, and later was a professor at the Universities of Jena (from 1821), Würzburg (from 1824) and Marburg (1829–83).
Heusinger was a pioneer in the field of comparative pathology. In 1829 he published an influential work on physical and psychological anthropology titled Grundriß der physischen und psychischen Anthropologie. Among his other writings was a German translation of François Magendie's (1783-1855) Précis élémentaire de physiologie, and letters of correspondence with naturalist Charles Darwin. He also wrote a remarkable review of geophagy, titled Die sogenannte Geophagie oder tropische (besser: Malaria-) Chlorose als Krankheit aller Länder und Klimate.