Karl Heinrich Heydenreich (1764–1801), a now almost forgotten German thinker of the late Enlightenment, attempted his own transcendental-philosophical definition of the aesthetic category of the sublime in the article “Grundriß einer neuen Untersuchung über die Empfindungen des Erhabenen” (1789), which preceded Kant's Critique of Judgment by a year. Thanks to this endeavor, he was often described in the history of aesthetics as being a Kantian in aesthetics before Kant, but his article has not to this point received a detailed analysis. The present study shows that, in particular, Kant's moral-philosophical concept of respect for moral law played a crucial role in Heydenreich's reflections on the sensation of the sublime as a product of pure reason. and Karl Heinrich Heydenreich (1764–1801), dnes téměř neznámý pozdně osvícenský německý myslitel, se v článku „Grundriß einer neuen Untersuchung über die Empfindungen des Erhabenen“ (1789), jenž o rok předcházel Kantově Kritice soudnosti, pokusil o vlastní transcendentálně-filosofickou definici estetické kategorie vznešena. Díky tomuto počinu byl sice v dějinách estetiky nejednou líčen jako kantián v estetice před Kantem, podrobné analýzy se však jeho článku dosud nedostalo. Předložená studie ukazuje, že zásadní roli v Heydenreichově úvaze o pocitu vznešena coby produktu čistého rozumu sehrál zejména Kantův morálně-filosofický koncept pocitu úcty k mravnímu zákonu.
a1_This study aims to present the physician Johann Melitsch (1763–1837) as a courageous reformer who presented a specific alternative to the étatist model of healthcare reforms implemented by the Habsburg monarchy in the 18th century. As obstetrics was the focus of Melitsch’s reform activities, the paper also contributes to the broader issue of the professionalisation of obstetrics at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 1780s, Joseph II decided to use the assets of the secularised monasteries and hospitals to form a state complex of various health and social care facilities in the capitals of the Habsburg “provinces”. Where conditions and proximity to the university allowed, the first real “clinics”, i.e. hospitals linked to the teaching of medicine (and therefore science), were established: this was the case, for example, in Vienna and Prague. General hospitals formed the core of these complexes; maternity hospitals were also built, primarily for unmarried mothers, to prevent infanticide, but also as a source of female bodies for young medical students, who otherwise generally did not have the opportunity to learn about pregnancy and childbirth. At the same time, a young doctor who had just finished medical school in Prague, the twenty-fouryear- old Johann Melitsch, the son of a cabinet-maker, decided to undertake another project: a Privatentbindungsanstalt, ie. private outpatient maternity clinic. It was designed for married but poor women and also offered the opportunity of midwifery practice to medical students. Thanks to a family inheritance and his wife’s dowry, he was indeed able to found such an institution. And with donations from wealthy patrons from the nobility, he was able to provide small financial rewards or medicines to his patients. His assistants were students. and a2_Melitsch later extended his outpatient care, which was also improved by the “district doctors”, to sick women and children in general and thus offered a counterpart to the “stationary” type of state general hospital. In 1793, he was finally appointed professor at the Prague Faculty of Medicine – but only after the intervention of Emperor Francis I himself, who also granted this institution a “public right”. In 1795 Melitsch drew up a proposal – also probably the first in the Habsburg monarchy – for health insurance for low-income segments of the population. However, this system was never put into practice. In this predominantly Catholic monarchy, where hospitals had hitherto operated mainly on a church or municipal basis and where there was a clear tendency in Melitsch’s time to create a purely state-run health service, this was an exceptional case. The paper is also a contribution to the broader issue of the professionalisation of midwifery at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Besides that, Melitsch is considered to be the first doctor in the Czech lands to perform a successful caesarean section in which both mother and child survived.
In this study we consider the comedies of Ignaz Cornova. Locating his plays within the landscape of late 18th century genres, we examine the specific use the writer makes of contemporary dramatic conventions and the way in which he engineers the social reconciliation that characterizes his comedies. First we take a closer look at the dramatic construction of his plays and compare them with the comedic output of his contemporaries active in Bohemia. We then focus on Cornova’s particular use of the language of comedy, of which we find echoes in his many and varied writings on culture and politics. Finally, we address the issue of relations between the social estates or classes. Our conclusion shows that the storylines Cornova rehearses in his comedies are later exploited in his historical writings and may thus be considered as the author’s recipe for pacifying the social conflicts of the period.