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Ophthalmology: Chapter 7 Paris To Berlin (1885-1887)
Ophthalmology: Chapter 7 Paris To Berlin (1885-1887)
November 1885 – living in Paris and sojourned for about four months
o Worked as an assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert (1852-1906), leading French
ophthalmologist, from November 1885 to February 1886.
o outside his working hours, he visited his friends, such as:
family of Pardo de Taveras (Trinidad, Felix and Paz)
Paz Pardo de Taveras – pretty girl engaged to Juan Luna. On the album
of this girl, Rizal drew a series of sketches on the Story of “The
Monkey and the turtle.”
Juan Luna
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo
Studio of Juan Luna – helped Luna by posing as model in several paintings:
o The death of Cleopatra as Egyptian Priest
o The Blood Compact as Sikatunawith Trinidad Pardo de Tavera as Legaspi
Rizal as musician – kundimans and other Philippine melodies are played in all Filipino reunions
o Reason for studying music: many of his schoolmates at the Ateneo were taking music
lessons
o November 27, 1878 letter to Enrique Lete
Learned the solfeggio, the piano and voice culture in one month and a half.
o Play the flute fairly well.
Composed “alinmanglahi’ (any race): a patriotic song which asserts that any
race aspires for freedom
Sad Danza- “La Deportacion” (deportation): composed in Dapitan during his
exile.
Historic Heidelberg – left Gay Paris on February 1, 1886 for Germany. Visited Strasbourg
(Capital of Alsace Lorraine)
o February 3, 1886 – he arrived in Heidelberg, a historic city in Germany, famous for its
old university and romantic surroundings.
became a member in Chess Player’s Club
worked at University Eye Hospital under the direction of Dr. Otto Becker
attended lectures of Dr. Otto Becker and Prof. Wilhelm Kuehne
Weekendshe visited: Heidelberg Castle, Neckar River, theater and old churches.
Light Blue “forget-me-not” flower – Rizal’s favorite. Remembered the blooming
flowers at the garden of his home in Calamba.
April 22, 1886wrote a poem “A Las Flores de Heidelberg” (to the
flowers of Heidelberg)
in Leipzig and Dresden (August 9, 1886) boarded a train and visited many cities in Germany
o Arrived at Leipzig (August 14, 1886) attended lectures in History and psychology at
University of Leipzig.
o Befriended Prof. Friedrich Ratzel (famous German historian) and Dr. Hans Meyer
(German Anthropologist)
o Translated Schiller’s William Tell from German to Tagalog so that Filipinos might know
the story of the champion of Swiss independence. Also translated Hans Christian
Andersen’s Fairy Tales for his nephews and nieces.
o October 29 left Leipzig for Dresden. Met Dr. Adolph B. Meyer – director of the
anthropological and ethnological museum.
Heard mass in a Catholic Church and was impressed
o November 1 left Dresden by train and reached Berlin in the evening.
o In the morning as assistant to Dr. Schweigger and at night attended lectures in the
university of Berlin
o Took private lessons under a professor of French, Madame Lucie Cerdole, to master the
idiomatic intricacies of the French Language.
o Unter den Linden – most popular boulevard of Berlin. Rizal enjoyed promenading.
o Rizal on German Women: letter to Trinidad (march 11, 1886). German woman is serious,
diligent, educated and friendly. Not gossipy, frivolous and quarrelsome like Spanish
woman
o German Customs: Christmas custom delighted him most. And self-introduction of a
German when nobody will introduce him.
o Rizal’s darkest winter: 1886 in Berlin. He lived in poverty because no money arrived
from Calamba and he was flat broke. The diamond ring which his sister, Saturnina, gave
him was in the pawnshop. He could not pay his landlord and had to scrimp eating only one
meal a day (bread and water or some cheap vegetable soup).
o It was a painful episode for he was hungry , sick and despondent in a strange city
o It brought him great joy, after enduring so much sufferings, because his first novel, Noli
Me Tangere, came off the press in March 1887.
Dr. Maximo Viola loaned him the needed funds to publish the novel
o Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin – inspiration of Rizal in creating a novel that would
depict the miseries of his people under the lash of Spanish tyrants.
o January 2, 1884 – presented the novel to group of Filipinos and unanimously approved by
those present:
o Reason for suspicion: frequent visits to villages and little towns in rural areas
Printing of Noli finished. March 27, 1887 – Noli Me Tangere came off the press.
o March 29, 1887- token of appreciation: he gave Viola the galley proofs of the Noli
carefully rolled around the pen that he used in writing it and a complimentary copy.
The Title of the Novel. Noli Me Tangere Latin Phrase which means “Touch Me Not” not originally
conceived by Rizal, he admitted taking it from the Bible
o Letter to Felix Hidalgo (French. March 5, 1887): said it is taken from the Gospel of St.
Luke signify ‘do not touch me”. Rizal made a mistake, it should be from the Gospel of St.
John 20:13-17
o begins with a reception given by Capitan Tiago (Santiago de los Santos) in CalleAnloague
(now juanluna street) in honor of Crisostomo Ibarra (young and rich Filipino. Returned
after 7 years of study in Europe. Son of Don Rafael Ibarra, friend of capitan Tiago. And
fiancé of Maria Clara, supposed daughter of Capitan Tiago.)
o Guests:
Padre Damaso: fat Franciscan friar who had been parish priest for 20 years of
San Diego (Calamba)
Padre Sybila: young Dominican parish priest of Binondo
Señor Guevara: an elderly and kind lieutenant of the Guardia Civil
Don Tiburcio de Espadaña: bogus Spanish Physician, lame and henpecked
husband of Doña Victorina.
o Ibarra and Capitan Tiago played chess. Maria Clara and her friends played the ‘wheel of
chance”
o Padre Salvi came and tore into pieces the book, saying it’s a sin to play such game
o 4 soldiers of Guardia Civil came and looking for Elias who was haunted for:
o Ibarra visited old Tasio to consult on his pet project about the school house.
Tasio’s writing was in hieroglyphics because he was writing for the future
generations who would understand and say “not all were asleep in the night of
our ancestors”
Tasio is pessimistic about the project. But the construction was continued under
architect Ñor Juan
o Fiesta in honor of its patron saint San Diego de Alcala, November 11.
o Elias suspected that the yellowish man, who built the derrick was a paid stooge of
Ibarra’s enemies
o Ibarra’s attack to Padre Damaso produces 2 results:
o Liberal minded governor general visited the town and befriended Ibarra
o Tiburcio de Espadaña – a quack Spanish Physician.
Husband of DoctoraDoÑaVictorina de los reyes de DeEspadaÑa
Introduced young Spaniard to Capitan Tiago, Don Alfonso Linares de
EspadaÑa, cousin of Tiburcio and god son of Padre Damaso
o Comedy: the fight between the 2 ludicrous senoras – Dona Consolacion, the vulgar
mistress of the Spanish Alferez, and Dona Victorina, the flamboyantly dressed wife of
henpecked Spanish quack doctor.
Epilogue:
o Maria Clara entered the Santa Clara nunnery
o Padre Salvi left the parish of San Diego and became a chaplain of the nunnery.
o Padre Damaso was transferred to a remote province. Next morning he was found dead in
his bedroom
o Capitan Tiago became an opium addict and human wreck
o Dona Victorina had taken to wearing eyeglasses because of weakening eyesight
o Linares died of dysentery and buried in Paco cemetery
o Alferez was promoted major
o Blumentritt: a kind-hearted, old Austrian professor. Helped Rizal and Viola get a room at
Hotel Krebs.
o Stayed in Leitmeritz from May 13 to May 16, 1887
o Visited the tomb of Copernicus, the famous astronomer; the museum of natural history;
the bacteriological laboratories; the famous cave where San Juan Nepomuceno, the
Catholic Saint, was imprisoned; and the bridge from which this saint was hurled into the
river.
o Went to Brunn, according to Viola “nothing of importance happened” in this city
Danubian Voyage to Lintz. On May 24, they left Vienna on a river boat to see the beautiful sights
of the Danube River.
From Lintz to Rheinfall. River voyage end in Lintz. Traveled overland to Salzburg, from there to
Munich, where they savor Munich beer, reputed to be the best in Germany.
o From Munich to Nuremberg, one of the oldest cities of Germany, they were impressed
by the manufacture of dolls which was the biggest industry of the city.
o Visited Ulm in which its cathedral was the largest and tallest in all Germany
o Rheinfall (Cascade of the Rhine), they saw the most beautiful waterfall of Europe
Crossing the Frontier to Switzerland. Stayed from June 2 to 3, 1887 and continued their tour
to Basel, Bern and Lausanne.
Geneva. Crossing foggy Leman Lake to Geneva. One of the most beautiful cities in Europe
o people in this city were linguists, speaking in German, French and Italian.
o June 19, 1887, 26th birthday, treated Viola to a blow-out
o Spent 15 delightful days in Geneva. June 23, they parted ways – Viola returned to
Barcelona while Rizal continued the tour to Italy.