Gruber

GRUBER, Wenzel Leopoldovich (1814–1890), a well-known anatomist, professor of the Military Medical Academy. He received his university education in Prague. Until 1847, he was an assistant to Hyrtl, then, at the invitation of Pirogov, he came to St. Petersburg, where in 1858 he received the chair of practical surgery. In 1887, the conference of the Military Medical Academy solemnly celebrated the 40th anniversary of Gruber's activity. On behalf of the conference, a medal was presented to Gruber, on which was inscribed "To the Teacher of 8,000 Russian Doctors." Gruber's printed works cover almost all areas of descriptive anatomy. Gruber devoted much labor to the improvement of his department; under him, according to his plan, the building of the current anatomical institute was constructed, which remains to this day one of the best institutions of this kind. Especially valuable for the number of rarest specimens is the anatomical museum created by Gruber. Gruber was an honorary member of many medical and non-medical scientific societies in Russia and abroad and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

GRUBER, Max (1853–1927), a well-known German hygienist. From 1884 he held the chair of hygiene in Graz, from 1887 in Vienna, and from 1903 to 1923 in Munich. In the last years of his life, he was the president of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Even his first works on issues of disinfection, water supply, and epidemiology revealed him to be a major scientist. Especially valuable were his subsequent works in the field of bacteriology and immunity (on the variability of Vibrio proteus, on the cholera vibrio and its toxin, on opsonins; the latter work appeared earlier than the works of Wright). In 1896, together with Durham, Gruber discovered the agglutination reaction and applied it for biological diagnostics. He was also the first to conduct experiments on the application of the agglutination reaction for the diagnosis of typhoid fever. In the same year, Widal verified it on a large clinical material, and therefore it received the name of the Gruber-Widal reaction. The name of Gruber is also associated with the development of the fundamental problems of social hygiene. He is known as one of the most energetic researchers and fighters against alcoholism in Germany. His "Leitsätze über Alkoholismus u. Nachwuchs" (Münchener med. Wochenschr., 1918, No. 14) is well known. A number of Gruber's works are devoted to issues of eugenics; among them is the book "Ursachen u. Bekämpfung des Geburtenrückgangs im Deutschen Reich" (München, 1914). While many contemporary bourgeois representatives of eugenics place great hopes in the matter of improving the health of humanity on the artificial regulation of the processes of reproduction of new generations, Gruber stands on the side of those who believe that the decisive influence in this regard belongs to the improvement of the social environment in which social collectives (peoples, classes, etc.) live and work. "The unfavorable effect of poor hygienic conditions, poverty, and pathogenic causes lies as a heavy burden on the national organism and prevents it from taking the forms that it could take thanks to its inherent internal elasticity. Remove this burden or at least lighten it—and you will see that even without any qualitative improvement of the germinal protoplasm, the young generation will not be frail, will develop correctly, and its average qualitative level will quickly go uphill" (Gruber). As a person, Gruber was distinguished by a fervent love for the truth, great courage in defending his views, and enjoyed deep respect and love in Germany and far beyond its borders. Together with M. Rubner and M. Ficker, Gruber edited the large collective "Handbuch der Hygiene" (Vol. I–V, Lpz., 1911–27).