EMIL KRAEPELIN’S SUCCESSOR PROF. VLADIMIR CHIZH, HIS RESEARCH METHODS AND –OBJECTS

Abstract

1. Introduction Psychiatry at the turn of the 19th century left a strong impression on Estonian national emancipation. The emergence of modern Estonian nation took place in the German-dominated Baltic Provinces of Russia, where political processes were strongly influenced by a linguistic division ('ethnicity') based on social hierarchy. The upper layers being historically German speaking, the lower ranks, the indigenous peasantry, were starting to evolve into modem Estonian (and Latvian) nations only in the 19th century. Parallelly, a third player was strengthening its positions in the Baltic political stage--it was the Russian state, escalating the policy of Russification (see also the article by Erki Tammiksaar in this volume of Trames). All three parties used rhetorics which included biologisation of national discourse, that is--race theories, the so-called degeneration theory and eugenical ideas. From the last decade of the 19th century the second rise in Estonian national movement witnessed an increased involvement of academic circles (incl. medical professionals) and the Estonian abstinence movement. The latter did a lot in educating people in the matters of science and public health. As a result of the characteristic of the Estonian nationalism--the so-called perception of a small nation (i.e.: fear of extinction)--and a depreciative standpoint by which Estonians, who seemingly lack political history must be viewed as a Naturvolk (instead of Kulturvolk), an environment emerged, where the young Estonian elites transferred the paradigms deriving from the then natural sciences into national discourse. It was the context where topics related to psychiatry (i.e. degeneration theory) also found a place in the theoretical foundations of Estonian nation-building (Kalling 2013; Kalling and Heapost 2013). The article studies the Estonian people both as reasearch objects for the past psychiatrists and--as a reaction to it--the Estonian reception of particular academic scholarship. The main attention shall be on the works in the field of criminal anthropology by Vladimir Chizh (1855-1922), the successor of Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) as a professor of psychiatry at the University of Tartu. (1) Studies by Chizh were among the triggers to initiate Estonian-language discussions on the biological qualities of the nation. Analysis of these discussions can contribute not only to the history of ideas in Estonia, but also to the international historiography of the 'nature versus nurture' controversy. 2. Some facts about Vladimir Chizh Vladimir Chizh was the professor of psychiatry and head of the Psychiatry Clinic at the University of Tartu during the years 1891-1916. He was a graduate (1878) from a Military Medical Academy in St Petersburg (defended in 1883 also his doctoral degree there). In 1884-1885 Chizh visited Europe and studied at the institutes of several outstanding psychiatrists of the era, e.g. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), Paul Flechsig (1847-1929), Joseph Delboef (1831-1896), Alfred Vulpian (1826-1887) and Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893). Before receiving a position in Tartu Chizh practiced at St Panteleimon Hospital in St Petersburg, and lectured as a private docent in forensic psychopathology at the University of St Petersburg. In Tartu Chizh read the courses of psychiatry and physiological psychology (Aadamsoo 1973; Slabinskii 2015). The latter discipline--according to Konstantin Ramul (1879-1975), professor of psychology at the University of Tartu during 1928-1965--must in fact be viewed as experimental psychology. Ramul sees it important to stress that Chizh thus continued the work of Kraepelin in Tartu. Under Chizh's supervision 8 dissertations (added by several minor studies) were written in the field of experimental psychology. Chizh also retained the psychology laboratory founded by Kraepelin in Tartu (Ramul 1974). As a scholar, Chizh was notoriously versatile. …