MERZHEEVSKY

Merzheevsky Ivan Pavlovich (1838-1908), one of the founders of Russian psychiatry, professor at the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy from 1877 to 1893, student and successor to Bialinsky at the department, and predecessor of Bekhterev. He studied at the same academy where he later held the chair; soon after completing his course, he defended his dissertation on "Clinical Studies of Insane Patients (vesanici)" (St. Petersburg, 1865), in which, among other things, based on somatic data, he pointed out the inappropriateness of using isolation cells. From 1872 to 1875, he made two trips to Germany, England, and France, during which he became particularly close with Magnan. During these trips, he made a number of scientific reports: in 1872 in Paris, together with Magnan, a report "On Changes in the Ependyma of the Brain Ventricles in Progressive Paralysis"; in 1874 at the congress in Norwich, a demonstration of giant cells discovered by him simultaneously with Betz; in 1872 at the Berlin Anthropological Society and in 1875 at a similar Parisian society, two reports on microcephaly, in which he rejected the theory of atavistic origin of this deformity and proved that microcephalics resemble not anthropoid apes, but human embryos. In his scientific work, M. was a great admirer and lover of microscopy. He did not neglect the questions of practical and social psychiatry, in particular, he took an active part in the organization and work of the First Congress of Russian Psychiatrists, at which he presided and delivered a speech "On the Conditions Favoring the Development of Mental Diseases in Russia, and on Measures Aimed at Their Reduction." Under the guidance of M., 26 dissertations and 150 scientific works were written, and more than 50 Russian psychiatrists were his students, including 11 professors and instructors.