Karl Friedrich Heusinger (February 28, 1792 - May 5, 1883) was a German pathologist who was a native of Farnroda

Wutha-Farnroda

Wutha-Farnroda is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany....

.

He studied medicine in Jena

Jena

Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...

 and Marburg

Marburg

Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...

, and afterwards was an assistant to Karl Gustav Himly

Karl Gustav Himly

Karl Gustav Himly was a German surgeon and opthalmologist from Braunschweig. He studied medicine at the University of Würzburg under Karl Kaspar von Siebold , and at the University of Göttingen under August Gottlieb Richter...

 (1772-1837) at the University of Göttingen. In 1813 he served as a military doctor in the Prussian Army, and later was a professor at the Universities of Jena (from 1821), Würzburg

University of Würzburg

The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...

 (from 1824) and Marburg (1829–83).

Heusinger was a pioneer in the field of comparative pathology

Pathology

Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

. In 1829 he published an influential work on physical and psychological

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 titled Grundriß der physischen und psychischen Anthropologie. Among his other writings was a German translation of François Magendie

François Magendie

François Magendie was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a Magendie sign, a downward and inward rotation of the eye due to a lesion in the cerebellum...

's (1783-1855) Précis élémentaire de physiologie, and letters of correspondence with naturalist

Naturalist

Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

 Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

. He also wrote a remarkable review of geophagy

Geophagy

Geophagy is the practice of eating earthy or soil-like substances such as clay, and chalk. It exists in animals in the wild and also in humans, most often in rural or preindustrial societies among children and pregnant women...

, titled Die sogenannte Geophagie oder tropische (besser: Malaria-) Chlorose als Krankheit aller Länder und Klimate .

Selected writings

• Entzündung und Vergrößerung der Milz, (Inflammation and Enlargement of the Spleen) Eisenach 1820 und 1823.
• Grundriß der physischen und psychischen Anthropologie. Eisenach 1829. (Sketch of Physical and Psychological Anthropology).
• Grundriß der Encyklopädie und Methodologie der Natur- und Heilkunde. Eisenach 1839.
• Recherches de pathologie comparée. Kassel 1844–53, 2 Bde. (Research of Comparative Pathology).
• Die sogenannte Geophagie oder tropische (besser: Malaria-) Chlorose als Krankheit aller Länder und Klimate .