: - ^ : Early

'.. * " s* Science and

*** Medicine
BRILL Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 x v m v .b rill.co m / esm
Fam ily at the Fringes: The Medico-Alchemical Careers
of Jo hann Ruland (1575-1638) and Jo hann Dav id
Ruland (1604-1648?)
Ilona Fekete
Etvs Lordnd University*
Abstract
The Ruland family was perhaps the m o st famous clan involved in alchemy and m edi-
cine in early m o dern Central and Eastern Euro pe. Yet while m ore pro m inent m em b ers
o f the family, such as Martin Ruland Junio r (1569-1611), participated in the alchem -
ical m ilieu at the co urt of Rudo lf II in Prague, o ther m em b ers, farther from the centre
of Em pire, are also significant to the study of interco nnectio ns between early m o dern
alchemy, science, and m edicine. A case in po int is the m isundersto o d figure of Jo hann
Dav id Ruland (1605-1648?), who plied his trade in the territo ries of Royal Hungary.
His major pub licatio n, the Pharmacopoea nova (1644), intro duced the rudim ents of
his "filth-pharm acy" {Dreckapotheke): the use of b o dily waste to cure and heal certain
afflictions. Yet in the seco ndary literature, Jo hann David's life and work have often
been confiised with the activities of his uncle, Jo hann Ruland (1585-1638). The pres-
ent biographical study of b o th Jo hann and Jo hann Dav id seeks to disentangle their
respective intellectual legacies, allo wing us the o ppo rtunity to resituate b o th m en
within their respective medical and alchemical co ntex ts.
Keywords
Jo hann Dav id Ruland, Ruland family, Pressburg (Bratislava), m edicine, Hungary, filth
pharm acy, Dreckapo theke, alchem ical heraldry, pharm acy
* 48 Batthyny Street, 1015 Budapest, Hungary (feketeilo na@yaho o .co .uk). I wo uld
like to thank Do ra Bobory, Leigh Penm an, Rafat T. Prinke, Jennifer Ram pling,
Mrto n Szentpteri and this jo urnal's ano nym o us referee for their assistance, suppo rt
and adv ice.
Koninklijke Brill NV. Leiden. 2012 DOI; 10.1103/10.1163/15733823-I75000A5
/. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 549
A Dreckapotheke from the Ruland Family
Preserved in the Old Print Collection of the Hungarian National
Library (RMK II. 652) is a curious example of so-called "filth phar-
macy," or Dreckapotheke, entitled Pharmacopoea nova. Published in
Leutschau (Levoca/Locse) in the former Kingdom of Hungary in 1644,
its author was a Pressburg-based physician named Johann David
Ruland.' This particular copy is unique, for in addition to its printed
content, its endpapers also bear copious manuscript annotations con-
cerning the practice of filth pharmacy, in the author's own hand. But
although its content, which treads that unusual territory between med-
icine and alchemy, seems strange to modern eyes, stranger still is the
complex historiographical web woven by successive generations of Hun-
garian historians around its author's life and work.
As a prominent member of the famous German medical family, who
spent his life plying his trade in the territories of historical Hungary,
Ruland was an early, and popular, target for patriotic local researchers
of medical history. Yet the nationalistic context of much of this research
has resulted in some egregious errors, not the least of which is the
remarkable conflation of Johann David Ruland (1604-1648?) with his
uncle, Johann Ruland (1575-1638). Subsequently, these errors have
been disseminated into medical history more broadly, a field in which
both Rulands are barely known.^ The only exception to this is a recently
published Hungarian-language article by Mrs Gyrgy Wix, which set
out to solve some of these discrepancies.^
" The Leutschau edition can be viewed online: http://oldbooks.savba.skydigi/mf/
Mf_088/start.htm (accessed 31 July 2012). A further edition was printed in the
same year in Nuremberg by the printer Wolfgang Endter. A copy of this edition is
preserved in Budapest, Hungarian National Library, shelfmark RMK III. 6248. See
also Gyula Magyary Kossa, Magyar orvosi emlkek, vol. Ill (Budapest, 1931), 360.
^' This conflation has also spilled over into significant online resources such as the
VD17 {Das Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahr-
hunderts), where Johann Ruland is incorrectly identified as the son of Martin Ruland
Junior, and not as his brother. See http://gso.gbv.de/DB= 1.28/SET=4/TTL=l 1/SHW?
FRST=15 (accessed 31 July 2012).
' ' Wix Gyrgyne, "Gens Rulandica, egy hires nmet orvoscsald magyar vonatkozsai,"
Communicationes de Historia Artis Medicinae, 170-173 (2000), 121-37.
550 / Fekete I Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
The present article, drawing on contemporary printed and archival
sources, seeks to disentangle the myths from the reality of the life and
work of both Rulands, and to shed light on the manifold interests and
endeavours of two generations of the Ruland family in East-Central
Europe. It aims to draw attention to the lives of these two significant
members of the Ruland family, and open up several Hungarian
sourcesand archival sources located beyond the former Iron Cur-
tainfor the attention of the medical history community more broadly.
Johann David Ruland: The Historiographical Background
The first significant instance of historical interest in Johann David
Ruland dates back to the eighteenth century, in the person of Istvn
Weszprmi (1723-1799). Weszprmi was a Hungarian physician and
a versatile author of works on obstetrics, paediatrics, inoculation, his-
tory, and medical history. He researched and collected biographies and
bibliographies of Hungarian and Transylvanian physicians in his exhaus-
tive and influential Succinta medicorum Hungariae et Transylvaniae bio-
graphiae, printed in Leipzig between 1774 and 1778. This monumental
collection assembled data concerning physicians not only of Hungarian
origin, but indeed anyone who was active in medical practice in the
territory, including Johann David Ruland. Weszprmi employed a
remarkable range of sources: his own vast book collection, the library
of the Calvinist college in Debrecen, and other materials furnished by
his intellectual circle in Hungary and abroad. In particular, he sought
out several then-unpublished matriculation records, in order to trace
the peregrinatio acadmica of Hungarian students in Jena, Leyden,
Utrecht, Basel, Altdorf, Wittenberg and Heidelberg.''
However, as soon as the researcher follows up some of the most basic
data collected by Weszprmi concerning Ruland's life, several puzzling
and irreconcilable inconsistencies emerge. According to Weszprmi's
sources, Ruland vvas born in Regensburg in 1585, and received his
medical doctorate in Wittenberg, at an unknown date. Thereafter,
Weszprmi claims that Ruland practised as a physician in Pressburg
" Viola Hark, "Azletrajzr Weszprmi Istvn {\72'5-\7^9)," AzOrvosiKnyvtdros,
2 (1974), 137-55.
/. Fekete/Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 551
(Bratislava/Pozsony), where he intermittently held important municipal
positions. Again without pinpointing a specific year, Weszprmi states
that Ruland became court physician of Istvn Bethlen of Iktr (1582-
1648), who in 1622 recommended him to Emperor Ferdinand II for
elevation to the Hungarian nobility. He concludes his account by stat-
ing that Ruland received a second mtac doctorate in Basel in 1629,
as well as studying further in Frankfurt an der Oder. Ruland finally
died in Pressburg at the age of 63, and in the Lutheran cemetery there,
Weszprmi found Ruland's worn tombstone.
In contrast to this complex and confusing picture, in the German
literature Johann David Ruland appears as a son of the famous Martin
Ruland Junior.' According to this literature, Johann David was born in
16O4 and possibly died in 1648, and worked as a physician in Namslau
(Namyslow). Nothing is mentioned of his time in Pressburg. Compared
to the Hungarian sources, data is sparse, but strikingly, the dates of
birth and death, as well as Ruland's place of activity, are completely
different from those communicated by Weszprmi. On the other hand,
one also learns from the German literature that Johann David had an
uncle named Johann Ruland. This Johann was also a physician in Press-
burgand here is a likely explanation for Weszprmi's biographical
confusion. Johann David the nephew and Johann the uncle were both
active as physicians in Lower Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary;
chronologically, their careers in these places indeed overlapped, and
both appear to have had a lasting interest in alchemy. Despite Weszpr-
mi's conflation, the two figures, Johann David and Johann Ruland,
were in fact two very different persons.
Conclusive evidence of this is provided by a little known pamphlet
held in the Preussische Staatsbibliothek Berlin. Entitled Fama posthuma,
and printed in Pressburg in 1640, it consists entirely of panegyrics and
poemata in praise of the career of the famous physician Johann Ruland,
who had died two years previously. Among the many illustrious con-
tributors to this pamphletincluding the philosopher Samuel Butschky
(1612-1678), the jurist Caspar Heuchelin (1571-1626), and the pas-
^' Ulrich Neumann, "Ruland, Martin der jngere," in Neue Deutsche Biographie, 22
(2005), 244; http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz77337.html (accessed 31 July
2012).
552 /. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
tor Andreas Eccardus (1588-1652), among otherswe also find a
contribution by yet another physician of Pressburg: Johann David
Ruland."^
The Ruland Family
The patriarch of the Ruland medical clan was Martin Ruland Senior
(1532-1602), a professor at the gymnasium in Lauingen (Germany)
and author of philological and lexicographical books. Moreover, he was
a prolific author of medical works that addressed a range of topics and
audiences: school medicine, balneotherapy, practical medicinal cures,
and popular medicine.^
Martin's son, Martin Ruland Junior (1569-1611) was the brother
of Johann Ruland and the father of Johann David. He received his
medical doctorate in Basel, and in 1594 was appointed city physician
of Regensburg. One of his alchemical medicines cured Archduke Mat-
thias of a malady in 1603, and in 1607 he became the personal physi-
cian of Emperor Rudolf IL* For years he had studied the so-called
morbus hungaricus^ the Hungarian disease, which, while working in
France and Spain, he ultimately identified as a variant of typhus. He
devoted a monograph to his discovery: De perniciosae luis ungaricae
tecmarsi etcuratione tractatus (Frankfurt, 1600), which was followed by
a more detailed version a few years later: De morbo ungarico recte cogno-
' ' Fama Posthuma, Quam Viro ... Dn. Johanni Rulando, Medicinae Doctori, Practico
celebrrimo, Physico in libera regiaqfuej dvitate Posoniensi in Ungaria ... Anno Christi
M.DC.IIXL. Aetatis vero LXIII. Mortalitatis legi obsecuto ... Carminibus Epicediis, In
fano Memoriae ... decantatum iverunt Cognatorum, Amicorum & Concivium in Rep.
Literaria ... nomine venientes (Pressburg [Bratislava and Leipzig], 1640).
^' Joachim Telle, "Ruland, Martin d. ," in Walther Killy and Wilhelm Khlmann,
eds., Killy Literaturlexikon. Autoren und Werke des deutschsprachigen Kulturraums, Bd.
10 (Berlin, 2011), 105-6.
*' Benedek Lang, Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval
Libraries of Central Europe (Pennsylvania State University Park, PA, 2008), 276. See
also R.J.W. Evans, Rudolf II and his World: a Study in Intellectual History 1576-1612
(Oxford, 1973); Ivo Purs and Vladimir Karpenko, eds., Alchymie a Rudolf II (Prague,
2011).
" Tibor Gyry, Morbus Hungaricus: eine medico-historische Quellenstudie (Jena, 1901),
45.
/. Fekete/Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 553
scendo etfoeliciter curando, Leipzig 1610.' Somewhat ironically, Ruland
died during a typhus epidemic shortly thereafter, in 1611. He was a
committed follower of Paracelsian philosophy, as appears throughout
his printed works. While best known for his Lexicon Alchemiae (A
Lexicon of Alchemy, or Alchemical Dictionary, containing not only a
full explanation of obscure words and Hermetic subjects, but also the
sayings of Theophrastus Paracelsus')," he also authored the stirring
Propugnaculum Chymiatriae: Das ist Beantwortung und Beschtzung der
Alchymistischen Artzneyen ('The Bulwark of Ghemiatria: That is, a
Response and Defence of Alchemical Medicine') (Leipzig, 1608),'^ and
the posthumously-printed Secreta spagirica ('Spagyrical Secrets') (Jena,
1676). Spagyria is the art of making alchemical medicine, a term intro-
duced by Paracelsus (from the Ancient Greek words "divide" and
"unite"). Its practitioners asserted that the healing power of materia
medica, derived from animal, plant or mineral sources, gains even
greater efficacy through alchemical alteration.'^
Johann Ruland
Johann Ruland, the younger brother of Martin Ruland Junior, was born
in 1575 in Lauingen, Swabia, and died in 1638 in Pressburg. He stud-
ied medicine in Tbingen and Basel, receiving his medical doctorate in
1604 in Basel with a dissertation on menstrual purification.''' Shortly
after gaining his doctorate, he made an entry in the album amicorum
"" Joachim Telle, "Ruland, Martin d. J.," in Killy and Khlmann, eds., Killy
Literaturlexikon, 10: 106-7.
' '' Martin Ruland, Lexicon Alchemiae sive Dictionarium alchemisticum cum obscurorium
verborum et rerum hermeticarum tum Theophrast-Paracelsaricarium phrasium planam
explicationem continens (Frankfurt, 1612).
'^' Telle, "Ruland, Martin d. J.," 106.
' ' ' "For medicine should not deign to believe anything that has not been proven by
fire, tit is] by fire that the physician increases as we have seen. For this reason you
should master alchimia, otherwise known as spagyria." Paracelsus, "Opus Paramirum,"
Liber I, Caput III, in Paracelsus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541.
Essential Theoretical Writings, ed. and trans. Andrew Weeks (Leiden, 2008), 41. See
alsoJ.R. Partington, History of Chemistry, vol. 2. (London, 1969), 134.
"" Johann Ruland, Artis Medicae (Basel, 1604).
554 /. Eekete / Early Science and Medicine 17(2012)548-569
of Caspar Bauhin, Professor of Anatomy and Botany at the University
of Basel.'5
Several sources thereafter mention that Ruland served as city physi-
cian of Pressburg, although, surprisingly, there is no mention of him
in the city's contemporary chamber books {Kammerbcher). Norbert
Duka Zlyomi, a medical historian based in Bratislava, explains this
curious problem as the result of a misinterpretation of the Latin term
in the early literature: instead of Physicus Ordinarius civitatis Posoniensis
(city physician of Pressburg), the correct designation for Ruland might
have been Physicus in civitate Posoninensi ('physician in the city of
Pressburg').'* Zlyomi also notes that it is a mistake to assume that a
city employed a municipal physician continuously throughout the sev-
enteenth century. His research suggests that such physicians were com-
missioned on an ad hoc basis; a position which seems amply borne out
in the case of Ruland, since archival evidence demonstrates that he held
at least two separate commissions in Pressburg, in 1609 and 1611."'
According to the Hungarian medical historian Lszi Szathmry, in
1611, Ruland was forced to step down from his office as city physician
on account of the activities of his "enemies" in the city."*
Szathmry's statement apparently originates from a misreading of
the following entry in the logbook of the Pressburg city council:
Concerning the application of Doctor Johann Ruland against his libellers, who
did behind his back falsely declaim his medicines and deride him, it is decided
that although he shall not receive compensation, he is welcome to continue to
serve the rest of the year in the office of city physician, if indeed he wishes to
remain and practise, and that such a decision shall remain his alone.''^
' " Hans Georg Wackernagel, ed.. Das Matrikel der Universitt Basel, Bd. III (1962),
28; 749.
"*' Norbert Duka-Zlyomi, "Ein rztliches Vademcum der rztefamilie Ruland aus
dem 16. Jahrhundert," Sudhofs Archiv, 61 (1977), 281-97, 282.
"' Norbert Duka-Zlyomi, "The Development of the District Medical Officer in
Hungary from the Middle Ages to the 18* Century," in Wolfenbtteler Forschungen.
The Town and State Physician in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Enlightement
(Wolfenbttel, 1979), 131-40, 135.
' " Szathmry, Lszi, "A magyar iatrokemikusok," A Magyar Gygyszerszettudomdnyi
Tdrsasdg rtesitje (1933), 297-320.
' " "ber Ansuchen des Herrn Doctor Johannes Ruland wider seine Verlumder die
ihm in seiner Cur hinterrcks flschlich ausgeschrien und ihm hchlich verkleinert
I. Fekete I Early Science and Medicine 17(2012) 548-569 555
As this passage demonstrates, Ruland was not dismissed from his posi-
tion but was "welcome to continue" in it, with the caveat that if he
chose to do so, a cash-strapped Pressburg council would not be able to
offer him compensation for the libels he had suffered.
An obituary written by Ruland in 1604, on the occasion of the death
of his friend Ferenc Ndasdy (1555-1604), the so-called 'Black Bey,'
provides additional confirmation of his status as a sometime city physi-
cian in Pressburg, as well as the holder of other officialand largely
honorarytitles throughout the region. Asked to compose the oration
by Ferenc Dersfy, a long-time friend of Ndasdy's, Ruland identified
himself in the text as "the assigned physician of Lower Austria" {illus-
trium Austriae inferioris Medicum ordinarium)} It is worth noting here
that Ruland was evidently very well connected. Ndasdy and Dersfy
were possessors of the two largest latifiindiae (estates) in Pressburg at
this time, indicating that Ruland probably served several highly posi-
tioned persons. Ruland's occasional possession of the title of city physi-
cian in Pressburg is confirmed in the funeral oration written by Josua
Wegelin, the senior minister and priest of the Lutheran church in Press-
burg, following Ruland's death in 1638.^'
It is likely that Ruland spent most of his life in the region of Pressburg
and the Kingdom of Hungary, in the service of th city and the mem-
bers of its elite. Jean Baptiste Morin (1583-1656), a French physician
and astrologer, had met Ruland twice during his travels in the country
in 1614. Morin visited Pressburg while travelling to the famous mining
regions of Upper Hungary, so highly praised by Paracelsus.^^ During
his stay in Pressburg he was called to the home of the Hungarian arch-
beschlossen worden, dass man ihm dieses vollige Jahr noch das Physikatsamt passiren
wolle, wenn er weiter bleiben und prakticiren wolle, solle ihm dies freistehen, doch
ohne Besoldung." Vamossy Istvn, Adatok a gygyszat tortnethez Pozsonyban
(Pozsony, 1901), 22 (citing the original "Protocollum actionale magistratus Civitatis
Posoniensis" of 17 June 1611. l40. 1). All translations are my own unless otherwise
indicated.
^^ Ruland, Oratio Lvctvosa (Kerezmnni 1604), 1-2.
^" Josua Wegelin, AffiiZ/ff cwra /w (Breslau/Leipzig, 1640).
^^' Lszl Andrs Magyar, "Jean Baptiste Morin es Magyarorszg. Egy ismeretlen
Hungarikum" Magyar Knyvszemle, 1 (1998); http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00021/
00016/0003-eb.html (accessed 31 July 2012).
556 /. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17(2012)548-569
bishop, Ferenc Forgch (1566-1625), to give the ailing churchman
medical and astrological advice. The archbishop's personal physician at
that time was none other than Ruland. Given that the archbishop passed
away the following year, it appears that the consultation, and the pre-
scribed treatment, were unsuccessful. For Morin, the summons to Press-
burg would prove fruitful, for he received gifts from several nobles
present at the Archbishop's court." Morin met Ruland for a second
time in Schemnitz (Banska Stiavnica/Selmecbnya), where Ruland also
held the title of physician of the mining city.^''
In reconstructing Johann Ruland's career from a variety of sources,
we can therefore set some solid milestones: he was physician of Lower
Austria-Pressburg in 1604, city physician in Pressburg between 1606-
1609 and again in 1611, and possibly later as well. In early 1614, he
was at Forgch's court, and during 1614-15 he practised as a physician
in Schemnitz.^'
A contemporary engraved portrait of Johann Ruland has survived,
which he evidently commissioned personally from the painter Lukas
Kilian in 1623 (Fig. 1). Kilian (1579-1637), of the famous artisan
family in Augsburg, was mainly employed by noble and royal families
throughout northern and central Europe, although we also find a por-
trait of Pter Pzmny (1570-1637), the Hungarian Cardinal from
1616 to 1637, among his works.^* Ruland probably commissioned the
portrait in order to distribute it among his friends and acquaintances.
It could have been placed in alba amicorum, or commonplace books,
which were often possessed by peregrinating students. The portrait is
indeed used in such a way in the album amicorum of Adam Harel. The
little-known Harel, who later became the court physician to Charles II
-'' Jean-Baptiste Morin, Astro logia Gallica (The Hague, 1661). Book 23: Revolutions,
trans. James Herschel Holden (Tempe, AZ, 2002), 45.
-'" Magyar, "Jean Baptiste Morin."
^'' Johann Ruland signed the Stammbuch of Ulrich Reutter, mine administrator in
Schemnitz in September 1615: Lotte Kurras, ed., Kataloge des Germanischen National-
museums Nrnberg, Die Handschriften des Germanischen Nationalmuseum Nrnberg,
vol. 5: Die Stammbcher (Wiesbaden, 1988), 20.
^'^' Bernt von Hagen and Irene Haberland, "Kilian," in Grove Art Online, Oxford Art
Online (2007-2012), http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/
T046533pgl (accessed 31 July 2012).
/. Feket/Early Science a-id Medicite 17 (2012) 548-569
557
Figure 1: Joannes Rtikind. Line engra^-ing by Lucas Klian, 1623. (Credit: Wellcome
Library, London)
(1630-1685) during his French exile, studied in Vienna between July
1624 and March 1625. It was in Vienna tkat he received the portrait,
and his album also cor tainied manuscript entry from Ruland himself:
Theologians have wririen [he Wcjd of God, Juiiuts their laws: it is irreverent to
depart from the ons; frc^m the other, a crime. T-ue Physicians are nothing like
this, but: their aniy reasoning is experime.Tiririg :or which they strive in funda-
558 /. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
mentals, and if old and new books are avoided it is not disapproved, because the
truth is more important than the place of authority.-^
On the basis of this inscription, Norman Moore has suggested that
Ruland could have been one of Harel's professors in Vienna.^* Further-
more, Ruland's contemporary biographer, the pastor Josua Wegelin,
mentioned Ruland's 'practice' (of medicine?) at the Faculty in Vienna,
which supports further the possibility that Ruland may have been asso-
ciated with teaching at that institution.
One of the most interesting features of the portrait, however, which
openly presents Ruland as an interested practitioner of the alchemical
arts, is the unusual symbolic coat of arms featured in the top right hand
corner of the image. In 1608, when Martin Ruland Junior was personal
physician to Rudolf II, the Emperor conferred upon all members of the
Ruland familyincluding his brothers Valentin, Otto-Heinrich, and
of course Johanna patent of nobility, which confirmed and extended
the noble title given to Martin Senior in 1559.^'The patent allowed
for the improvement or renovation of the family's coat of arms, which
was duly undertaken.^" As can be seen in the figure, the design depicts
two male figures, each holding in his arms a pair of snakes. This image
probably derives from the famous myth of Hercules. Hera wanted to
destroy the baby Hercules by sending two poisonous snakes into his
cradle, but the infant strangled them with his bare hands. In alchemical
symbolism, Hercules was often employed as a mythoalchemical substi-
"' "Habent theologi Verbum Dei scriptum, Jurisconsuiti suas Leges: ab illo recedere
impium est: ab hisce piaculum. Medici vero nil tale, sed solam rationem experimen-
tiam, quibus pro fundamento nitantur, habent quibus si Veterum aut Neotericorum
scripta dclinent, non improbandum, sed veritati potius quam authoritati locum
denus." Cited in Norman Moore, "The Album Amicorum of Adam Harel and Other
Papers of Christian Harel," in Four Tracts by Norman Moore 1913-1914 {\9\A) [British
Library, Cen ref 11853.c22 (2)].
^^ C.W. Bingham, "MS. Commonplace Book of a German Apothecary," Notes &
Qm (1880), 411.
^" Neumann, "Ruland," 244.
^'" Pavel Horvth, "Nobilitcia a erby lekrov na slovensku v prvej polovici 17.
storocia," Genealogicko-heraldicky hlas, 1 (2000), 17-22; 19. Otto-Heinrich Ruland
utilised the design in a wax seal he used to close a private letter in 1645.
/. Fekete/Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 559
tute for the laboratory operator.^' The image certainly appears to have
maintained alchemical associations throughout the seventeenth-cen-
tury, and a depiction of Hercules strangling the snakes can also be found
on the title page of Goosen van Vreeswyk's De goude leeuw, of den asijn
der wysen ("The Golden Lion, or the Vinegar of the Wise") (Amsterdam
1676).3^
Ruland's personal alchemical proclivities are also on display elsewhere
in the portrait, as in the depiction of distillation equipment on the table
in the foreground. On the flask in his hand appears the words, "Sepa-
rate et ad maturitatem perducite" ("separate and bring to ripeness").
This phrase is emblematic of the Paracelsian medico-alchemical system,
and is reproduced in several famous alchemical works, including the
title page of Oswald Croll's Basilica Chymica (1609). The double motif
could lend further meaning to the coat of arms: implying tension, equal
opponents, and symmetry.
The use of alchemical symbolism in heraldic arms was not excep-
tional in Ruland's time, and indeed, seems to have been a relatively
common practice among physicians connected with the Rudolfine
court. While, as RafatT. Prinke has shown, even hereditary arms may
have been intended to be interpreted in hermetic terms, it is clear that
some alchemists adopted their own overtly alchemical arms, regardless
of whether their noble status was inherited or recently conferred.^^ In
1609, for example, the court physician and alchemist Michael Maier
received the title of Count Palatine from Matthias II. Maier himself
made a request for the symbol of his coat of arms: a toad and an eagle
linked by a golden chain.^'' In his request, Maier invoked his source,
Avicenna's Porta Elementorum, in which the flying eagle denotes com-
mon silver, and the crawling toad represents the fixed property of the
"* Joachim Telle, "Mythologie und Alchemie. Zum Fordeben der antiken Gtter in
der frhneuzeitlichen Alchemieliteratur," in Rudolf Schmitz and Fria Krafft, eds.,
Beitrge zur Humanismusforschung, 6 (Boppard, 1980), 135-54.
^^' The engraved title page shows 1676, but the typographical tide page gives 1675 as
the date.
") RafatT Prinke, "Hermetic Heraldry," The Hermetic Journal, 43 (1989), 62-78;
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/hermhera.html (accessed 31 July 2012).
'" Hereward Tilton, The Quest for the Phoenix: Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism
in the Work of Count Michael Maier (1569-1622) (Berlin and New York, 2003), 78.
560 /. Fekete I Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
earth: both properties, and the tension between them, were necessary
for achieving the hermetic medicine and the philosopher's stone.^^ The
result is a fusion of his hereditary crest with one of overt hermetic
symbolism. Maier's coat of arms is a vibrant example of the hermetical
and emblem symbolism rife at the Prague court, and one which may
have inspired the Rulands to adopt an openly alchemical motif in their
own familial arms. Another contemporary and apparently deliberate
hermetic motif in a coat-of-arms, also connected with the Rudolfine
court, is that of Cornelius Petraeus, about whom little is otherwise
known. This shows a figurai representation of Mercury tethered on one
side by a heavy weight, referring to the fixed principle, while the other
side shows wings attached to his hand and leg, symbolic of the volatile.^''
Since Cornelius dedicated an alchemical manuscript to Rudolf II as
both Bohemian and Hungarian King, this must have been written
beforel 608.3^
The upper left corner of the Ruland portrait features another well
known alchemical symbol, in the form of a medallion. The text around
the rim of the medallion states: ()uod est inferius est sicut quod superius,
et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius"That which is below is
as that which is above and that which is above is as that which is below."
This sentence derives from one of the key tenets of the hermetic tra-
dition, the second line of the Emerald Tablet ( Tabula Smaragdina)
attributed to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus.'* The motto in the
medallion explains the unity of the micro- and microcosm, represented
by the Moon and the Sun, sea and shore, as depicted in the emblem.
The tetrahedron in the middle of the medallion may be intended to
represent any number of triads, including the three Paracelsian princi-
ples, mercury, sulphur and salt; or indeed the holy trinity.
' " Joachim Telle, Buchsignete und Alchemie im XVI. und XVII. Jahrhundert. Studien
zur frhneuzeitlichen Sinnbildkunst (Hrtgenwald, 2004), 75-78.
3 Prinke, "Hermetic Heraldry," 74.
"' Raimon Arla, Images cabalistiques et alchimiques (Paris, 2003); http://www.
arsgravis.com/detall.php?id=193 (accessed 31 July 2012).
^'" The original sentence reads: Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est
superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius"That which is
below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to
perform the miracles of the one thing." Lazarus Zetzner's heirs (pub.), Theatrum
Chemicum, vol. Ill (Strassbourg, 1659-1661), 158.
/. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 % 1
There is little evidence concerning Johann Ruland's activities after
around 1623. According to Weszprmi, Ruland was made court physi-
cian to Istvn Bethlen of Iktr (1582-1648), and it was Bethlen who
recommended Ruland for ennoblement to Ferdinand II, which was
duly confirmed in 1622.^'While this is possible, it seems unlikely that
Johann could have served as a court physician at Bethlen's Transylvanian
court in Alba Iulia (Karlsberg/Gyulafehrvr), and there is no cor-
responding record of Ruland's presence at Bethlen's court. Ruland's
nobility could then be explained as a gesture of thanks from Bethlen
following the peace of Nicolsburg in 1621. It may or may not be sig-
nificant, however, that Jzsef Ernyey has looked for evidence of Ruland's
award of Hungarian nobility in the famous papers of Ivan Nagy,"*" but
has found no evidence of the conferral of title.'"
By 1638, Ruland was again dwelling in Pressburg, still serving as a
physician. His reputation was such that he apparently attracted custom-
ers from across the region. Johann Permeier ( 1597-c. 1644), an Austrian
prophet resident in Vienna who suffered from a condition he described
as "fliges Haupt" (coryza, or allergic rhinitis)''^ mentions travelling
to Pressburg on several occasions in order to visit Ruland to acquire the
physician's pills for relief Permeier, who evidently knew Ruland person-
ally, states that although he "holds the master or maker [of these pills]
for a conscientious and honourable man,'"*^ his choice to travel to Press-
burg from Vienna was primarily due to the efficacy of Ruland's purga-
tive medication, the so-called Rulandischen Pilulen. For, as Permeier
later stated, "no other medicine has ever before helped me so much in
this affliction.'"'''
' " Istvn Weszprmi, Succinta medicorum Hungariae et Transylvaniae biographia
(Lipsiae, 1774-1787), 158.
'"" Nagy Ivan, Magyarorszdg csalddai czimerekkel es nemzkrendi tdbldkkal (Pest, 1857-
1868).
"' Jzsef Ernyey, "Rulandus Pharmacopoeaja 1644," Gygyszerszeti Hetilap, 7 (1898),
98-100; 8 (1898), 114-16; at 98.
''^' Max Hoer, Deutsches Krankheitsnamen-Buch (^erVm, 1899), 162.
''^' "Ich ihren Meister oder Macher fur einen gewihafften vnd redlich Mann gehalten
habe." Halle, Archiv der Franckeschen Stiftung, B17a, III6d (Letter of Permeier to
Melchior Beringer, 3 October 1638). I would like to thank Leigh Penman for sharing
this information with me.
''''' "Mir vorhero niemalen kein medicamentum in disem Zuestand so weit gedienet
562 /. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
In addition to a private practice, Ruland may have been called upon
again to serve as city physician in Pressburg, as council funds allowed.
He was buried in Pressburg in November 1638. Besides his funeral
oration by Josua Wegelin, his tombstone survived into the eighteenth
century. Istvn Weszprmi made a record of the epitaph, which he
incorrectly connected to Johann David Ruland:
See the Traveller^Johann Ruland, the most successful physician, from the most
noble Quartus[?] familyburied here. [Although] he stitched together everything
mortal, this stone of solemnity does not capture the immortal qualities of the soul.
He lived sixty-three years, and died on 17 October.'"
Johann David Ruland
Having recovered and established the basic trajectory of Johann
Ruland's career, let us now turn to the details available concerning his
nephew. Johann David was the son of Martin Ruland Junior. He was
born in Regensburg in 1604, while his father was practising as the city's
physician. He attended the University of Wittenberg, where he de-
fended his medical dissertation, DeScabie, in 1630. Several years later,
in 1636, he acquired a doctorate in philosophy from the renowned
University of Frankfurt/Oder, this time concerning venereal disease.
Between 1630 and 1631, Johann David worked in and around Nam-
slau, Silesia (Namyslow, Poland), although there is no firm evidence to
demonstrate that he worked there as a field surgeon, as Pavel Horvth
has claimed.""^ During his life he worked mainly in Pressburg and its
environs: a receipt concerning acceptance of his medical services has
survived from 1637, addressed to Cristoph Teufel, public notary in
Leutsche (Levoca/Locse/Lewocza, Slovakia).''^
hat." Halle, Archiv der Franckeschen Stiftung, B17a, III6d (Letter of Permeier to
Melchior Beringer, 3 October 1638).
''** "Vides Viator /Ioannis Rulandi/ Medici felicissimi/ Ex nobilissima hac prosapia
Quarti/ Hie sepositum/ Quicquid mortale suit/ Sed immortales animi dotes/ Haec
lapidis augustia non capit./ Vixit annos LXIII/ Obiit (a.d.?) XVI. Kal. Novembr."
Weszprmi, Succinta medicorum, 158.
^^i Horvth, "Nobilitcia," 19.
''^* Gyula Magyary Kossa, Magyar orvosi emlkek III (Budapest, 1931 ), 352.
/. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 563
Johann David Ruland and his uncle Johann were therefore active as
physicians within the same region; indeed, within the same city, for at
least a few years between 1631 and 1638. Their cohabitation in Press-
burg was evidently the source of confusion for Weszprmi and those
historians who took his data at face value. Johann David spent his last
years in Modra (Modern/Modor). The city council invited him to write
a report concerning methods for the protection of the city from plague
during 1644 {Wie man die Pestilenzische I Seuch verhtten soll) which
was eventually printed by the council.'''
With the exception of the publication of his work on filth pharmacy,
Pharmacopoea nova, in 1644, his movements and activities between
1644 and his assumed death in 1648 are unknown. Some, however, are
documented in manuscripts preserved in Slovakian archives. Johann
David wrote the Pharmacopoea nova in Modra, where he was a practis-
ing physician. There, he evidently entered into a series of disputes with
other local physicians. Tense relations between apothecaries and physi-
cians were quite common at that time. In 1644, Ruland made a com-
plaint against the local apothecary, Zacharias Otthonen, who he claimed
was vending illegitimate medicines.''^ His concern with available rem-
edies is also evident from the pharmacopoea that he published in the
same year. Indeed, it is even possible that Ruland's complaint was related
to the marketing of his new book and his promotion of filth pharmacy.
The practice of Dreckapotheke, namely the use of excrement of dif-
ferent animals to produce medicaments, has existed since ancient Egypt.
The so-called Ebers Papyrus (1550 BCE) is the most important Egyp-
tian medical text, and provides some of the earliest evidence for the
practice. Over half of its recipes utilize what German physicians would
later refer to as Dreck, or fermented or decomposing bodily matter,
whether milk, dung, urine, blood, bones or flesh.^'' Although opinions
concerning the active nature of such cures have changed over time, the
use of excreta was based on the simple principle that a repulsive mate-
"' Jrg Meier, llpo Tapani Piirainen and Klaus-Petra Wegera, Deutschsprachige Hand-
schriften in slowakischen Archiven, Bd. 1 (Berlin, 2008), 836. B/M 979.
"' Meier, Deutschsprachige, 865. B/M 1141.
"" Kamal Sabri Koka and Doris Schwarzmann-Schafhauser, Die Heilkunde im alten
gypten (Stuttgart, 2000), 140.
564 /. Fekete/Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
rial can expel a physical or mental affliction.^' The use of excrement
assumes a magical explanation of the illness, as the result of a curse or
the special character of the animal whose filth was used.
Besides the symbolical and sympathetic uses of different excrement,
urine analysis (uroscopy) served as the defining diagnostic practice of
medieval Europe, requiring careful observation of the volume, odour,
colour and sediments of urine.'^ Quite aside from its well established
use in diagnosis, the observation of urine and experimentation with it
remained of interest throughout the sixteenth century, partly because
of the use of urine in alchemy," but also due to the new iatrochemical
belief that the body's internal chemistry could produce healing remedies
through a kind of animistic life force.'"* Although filth pharmacy was
particularly popular in German-speaking lands during the early modern
period,'^ a certain ambiguity towards the practice reigned during the
Reformation. The rise of lay pharmacies in the sixteenth to eighteenth
centuries reflected social conditions, when too few physicians existed
to service the community. The need for a medical handbook for laymen
is echoed in the subtitle of Ruland's Pharmacopoea nova, stressing that
the work is available those in poverty, in war, in solitude, hunting, in
the country, or on the road.^^
The basic materia medica of seventeenth-century medical practice
were derived from the three worlds of nature: vegetabilia (plants), ani-
' " Josef Schmidt and Mary Simon, "Holy and Unholy Shit: The Pragmatic Context
of Scatological Curses in Early German Reformation Satire," in Jeff Persels and Rssel
Ganim, eds., Eecal Matters in Early Modern Literature and Art (Farnham, 2004), 109-
17; 113.
"' Andrew Wear, Knowledge and Practice in English Medicine, 1550-1680 (Cambridge,
2000), 121.
"* Dominique Laporte, History of Shit (MIT, 1993), 36; Andrew Wear, "Early Modern
Europe 1500-1700," in Lawrence I. Conrad, Michael Neve, Vivian Nutton, Roy
Porter, and Andrew Wear, eds.. The Western Medical Tradition 800 BC to 1800 AC
(Cambridge, 1995), 207-361, 315.
5'!) Will-Erich Peuckert, Gabalia. Ein Versuch zur Geschichte der magia naturalis in 16.
bis 18. Jahrhundert {Benin, 1967), 249-50.
"' Schmidt and Simon, "Holy and Unholy Shit," 112.
"' The subtitle of Ruland's Pharmacopoea nova reads: "Iam primum edita pro
Pauperibus, Militantibus & omnibus, quibus in Militia, Itineribus, Venationibus,
Rure, Solitudine, vel alibi alia medicamenta non suppetunt."
/ Fekete /Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 565
malia (animals and humans), and mineralia (minerals). However, at the
end of the sixteenth century several new pharmacopea were published,
featuring recipes that utilised minerals and metals, including antimony,
iron, mercury, and phosphorus.^^ Among the ingredients prized for
their efficacy were animalia derived from the human body, such as
pulverised mummy (mumia), fat, bone, faecal matter, urine, blood, hair,
saliva, nail parings and parts of corpses. Paracelsus assumed that the
animalia contained a life force which could be employed in different
ways: the two main methods were transplantation and application.'^
Sometimes a "magnet" was employed in the cure, burdened with the
life force of the client. The magnet could be made from different sub-
stances, such as blood and urine. The most powerful magnetic medi-
cine, according to Paracelsus, was derived "ex stercore humano," out of
human faeces.''
Ruland's introduction to his Pharmacopoea nova states that the signs
of Nature can be read and explained, like a book afforded to humans
by Cod, to exploit the power of their collective intellects."'" Several of
Ruland's major influences are referenced in the introduction to his
Pharmacopoea nova, and help us to trace the genealogy of some of his
ideas and philosophies. For instance, he made several respectful refer-
ences to his teacher, Daniel Sennert (1572-1637). Sennert was a profes-
sor of medicine in Wittenberg, where he also served as dean. He is often
considered to be the person who introduced the study of chymistry, or
chymiatra, to Cerman universities.^' His Institutionum medicae (1611),
based on a canonised humoral pathology, was the most often reprinted
"' Anne-Christian Lux, Die Dreckapothe.ke des Christian Franz Paullini (MA thesis,
Mainz, 2005); http://www.volkskunde-rheinland-pfalz.de/dreckapotheke/seiten/
dreckapotheke.shtml (accessed on 4 October 2011).
"' Nicolaus Martius, Unterricht von der wunderbaren Magie {X^pg, 1719), 97.
' " Paracelsus, Decem Libri Archidoxis (1659), cited in Peuckert, Gabalia, 252; Karl
SudhofF, ed., Theophrast von Hohenheim: Smtliche Werke I, Bd. 3 (Mnchen and
Berhn, 1922-1933), 149.
'"* Cf Charles Webster, Paracelsus. Medicine, Magic and Mission at the End of the Time
(New Haven and London, 2008), 155.
' " Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, "Sennert, Daniel," in Killy and Khlmann, eds., Killy
Literaturlexikon, 10: 763-64.
566 /. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
medical textbook of the seventeenth century.''^ Sennert knew the con-
temporary medical literature thoroughly, as he demonstrated in his De
chymicorum cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis consensu ac dissensu (Witten-
berg, 1619),'"^ and he was profoundly influenced by Paracelsian alchemy.
Although he incorporated some Paracelsian notions into his works,
Hiro Hirai has argued that his eclectic approach rather sought to
reconcile Paracelsian ideas with Aristotelianism." Other authorities
mentioned by Ruland include Martin Ruland Senior (his grandfather)
and Martin Ruland Junior (his father), as well as several of his uncles,
including Andreas (1575-1638), Valentin (who received his doctorate
in 1608), Otto Heinrich (b. 1613/17), and, finally, the man with whom
he has been so often confused in the historiography: Johann Ruland.
The interest of the Ruland family in filth pharmacy is demonstrated
by a recent archival discovery by Norbert Duka-Zlyomi. Duka has
been able to identify a vademcum manuscript as the work of Martin
Ruland Senior in the Library of the Slovakian Academy of Sciences.*^'
The father compiled this vademcum for his son, Martin. It came into
Johann David's possession only in 1641, not directly after his father's
death, although Duka, following Weszprmi, confused Johann David
with the older Johann, and believed Martin Junior to be only his broth-
er. ^^ At all events, several copropharmacological recipes appear in the
vademcum, including the use of cow Dreck against arthritis, the stone,
inflammation of the joints, or indeed St Anthony's fire.^^
Among his classical influences, Ruland refers to Galen concerning
the effectiveness of human faeces, and Pliny for a testimony to the
power of animal excreta. Yet Ruland also knew and drew upon many
contemporary sources. He cites the work of Pierre Potier/Petrus Poterius
''^' See William R. Newman, "Sennert, Daniel," in Complete Dictionary of Scientific
Biography, vol. 24 (Detroit, 2008), 417-19.
' " Allen G. Debus, The Chemical Philosophy: Paracelsian Science and Medicine in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. 2 (New York, 1977), 191.
''" Hiro Hirai, "Atomes vivants, origine de l'me et gnration spontane chez Daniel
Sennert," Bruniana & Campanelliana, 13 (2007), 477-95.
^" Ustredn kniznica Slovenskej akadmie vied, Bratislava, Rkp 254.
'^^ Duka-Zlyomi, "Ein rztliches," 281, referring to a manuscript note on page 5 of
the work "Sum Joannis Davidis Rolandi, Philosophiae ac M.D. Mense Martio anno
D. 1641."
^^' Duka-Zlyomi, "Ein rzdiches," 291.
/. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 567
(1581-1643), a physician in Bologna and follower of Paracelsian phar-
macy, besides those of the prolific Saxon physician and alchemist,
Andreas Libavius (1550-1616).^* Other authors and works cited
include, for instance, Dioscorides and the fourteenth-century Thesau-
rus pauperum. From the sixteenth century Ruland's major source was
Oswald Gbelkover (1539-1616), the court physician of the Count of
Wrttemberg, and the author of a popu.hr Arzneybuch (1589), as well
as Otto Brunfels (1488-1534).<^'
The recipes in the Pharmacopoea nova are grouped according to the
excretum used. The first group contains human faeces and urine, fol-
lowed by the excreta of male and female cows, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs,
cats, mice, horses, donkeys, boars, hares, wolves, deer, roosters, geese,
pigeons, sparrows, swallows, storks, peacocks, and ravens. Ruland usu-
ally does not mix excreta from different animals, or excreta with other
ingredients, but employs them in their 'pure' form. Solid excreta were
used mainly for external use in their original or dry form, although they
were sometimes handled with wine, rose oil, and urine.
As remarked above, the Old Print Collection of the Hungarian
National Library holds a copy of the Pharmacopoea nova which, in
addition to the printed text, includes seventy-two pages of manuscript
notes in Ruland's own hand.^ These contain new medicinal recipes, as
well as notes on clients treated by Ruland between 1644 and 1648; that
is, between the publication of the book and his death. These demon-
strate not only that Ruland practised medicine during this period, but
that his customers included the elite of society in Modra. His patients
included Mihly Kisvrdai, canon of Trynau (Trnava/Nagyszombat, in
present-day Slovakia),''' Count Mattyasovszky,^^ Denes Benitzky,^'
^" Ruland, Pharmacopoea nova, xi; xv.
''" Ibid., xxiii, XXV, xxvii.
'"* Pharmacopoea nova, Hungarian National Library (RMKII. 652). The manuscript
notes feature in two sequences of unnumbered leaves. An initial sequence of five
manuscript pages is bound into the volume before the title page of the Pharmocopoea
nova. A further sequence of 67 pages is found at the conclusion of Ruland's volume.
For ease of reference, I here number the manuscript pages in sequence, from 1-5 and
6-72.
7" RMK II. 652, 32.
"' RMK 11. 652, 64.
^31 RMK II. 652, 25.
568 /. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569
Count Schlick,^'' and Prince Istvn Bethlen.^^The manuscript notes are
of interest not only to historians of medicine or of Hungarian society.
Besides prayers in Gzech and Polish, and an exorcism ritual in Latin, I
also noted lists of religious works and other miscellaneous items, which
could provide insight to historians seeking clues concerning Ruland's
religious proclivities.^""
One of Ruland's great success stories was his use of filth to cure Denes
Benitzky, who was mesmerized by "virgin" Katalin (Catherine), a local
witch or cunning woman. Ruland prescribed a recipe consisting of
human faeces and prayer.^^ Eventually, the curse lifted. Like his uncle,
Ruland also moved in the circles of Upper Hungarian nobility, although
on the basis of his use of filth pharmacy, rather than expertise in
alchemy.
According to German sources, such as Neumann's article in the Neue
Deutsche Biographie, Johann David died in 1648. His own manuscript
proves that he not only carried on with that kind of healing later in his
life, but that he managed to survive it.
Conclusions
Having disentangled the strands of the lives of Johann Ruland and his
nephew Johann David Ruland, it becomes clear that both men are
intriguing figures who deserve broader recognition: not only within the
traditional Hungarian historiography, which has tended to uncritically
perpetuate the mistakes of Weszprmi, but also in the historiography
of European medicine more broadly. Although Johann and Johann
David led similar lives, their fields of endeavour were quite diverse.
Johann received an imperial post shortly after he gained his doctorate,
and by the 1620s was firmly entrenched in the ranks of Hungarian and
imperial nobility, besides being a renowned and successful medical prac-
'" RMKII. 652, 56.
"' RMK II. 652, 3; 59.
'''' Among the works mentionedby Ruland are volumes by Jan Baptista van Helmont,
and an "Opuscula Erasmi Opuscula, Abraham Scultetus," which can be identified as
the Epistolam ad Hebraeos Concionum Ideae (Frankfurt, 1634). RMK II. 652; 71.
7" RMK II. 652, 25-26.
/. Fekete / Early Science and Medicine 17 (2012) 548-569 569
titioner in his adopted town of Pressburg. Johann David also moved in
the world of nobility, and although his connections ultimately oriented
him toward Hungary and the Hungarian nobility, it is unclear whether
he also attained noble rank himself. The Rulands' attitude to alchemy
was similarly defined by their social positions. Johann's alchemical inter-
ests are recorded in his portrait as a measure of his social status, whereas
Johann David's use of everyday cures in his medical practice shows
only a very slight connection to the courtly display of alchemy. Johann
Ruland's portrait suggests a more genteel, rather methodical appro-
priation compared to Johann David Ruland's filth pharmacy, an 'every-
day' and artisanal medical practice for those that required it.
In this article I have sought to bring together data concerning the
lives of Johann and Johann David Ruland, but there are undoubtedly
many more printed works and archival items preserved in Pressburg
and elsewhere, which could contribute to a fuller study of the Rulands'
significance. Exploring these sources can help us map how, over the
course of several generations, members of the family moved between
the "centres" and "fringes" of intellectual, medical, and chymical activ-
ity in East-Central Europe: a movement expressed not only in terms
of their places of employment, but also in the kind of medicine they
practised, and the philosophies which underwrote their manifold ac-
tivities.
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