Article ID: CBB485178339

Stephanus Bisius (1724–1790) on mania and melancholy, and the disorder called plica polonica (2021)

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Stephanus Bisius (1724–1790) was a physician of Italian descent and a graduate of the University of Pavia. He was invited to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early 1760s and became head of the Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius University in 1781. In 1772, Bisius had authored the first original study on nervous and mental diseases in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In his 35-page booklet, written in Latin and Polish, Bisius characterized mania and melancholy as diseases of the brain, explaining that the organs that feed the human soul are affected, not the soul itself. He introduced the principles of humoralism and solidism to readers, and recognized that autopsies had failed to reveal reliable findings concerning mania or melancholy. Bisius also described the origins of the challenging disorder called plica polonica, a strange condition associated with tufts of matted hair. As a physician during the medical Enlightenment, Bisius criticized metaphysical speculations in medicine and stated that plica was only a result of superstitions. Even though he proposed antiphlogistic treatments for patients with mania and melancholy, he maintained that time and faith in God might help some patients overcome their infirmities.

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Authors & Contributors
Smith, Leonard D.
Brockliss, L. W. B.
Bühler, Karl-Ernst
English, Peter C.
French, Roger K.
Heim, Gerhard
Journals
History of Psychiatry
Journal of Medical Biography
Dynamis: Acta Hispanica ad Medicinae Scientiarumque Historiam Illustrandam
Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
Imago Mundi: A Review of Early Cartography
Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
Publishers
Cambridge University Press
Duke University
Boston University
Brepols Publishers
Oxford University Press
The University of North Carolina Press
Concepts
Physicians; doctors
Medicine
Mental disorders and diseases
Biographies
Psychiatry
Physiology
People
Calvet, Esprit-Claude Francois
Cleghorn, Robert
Fox, Edward Long
Galen
Jackson, Charles Thomas
Janet, Pierre
Time Periods
18th century
Enlightenment
19th century
20th century
16th century
17th century
Places
Vilnius (Lithuania or Poland)
Berlin (Germany)
France
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Institutions
Wilhelm-Institut für Hirnforschung
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