Benjamin August Struve (1721 – 1789) was the son of Ernst Gotthold and Dorothea Elisabeth (Berchelmann) Struve.
His brothers were:
Benjamin August married Gottliebe Elisabeth Christiane Naumann in 1762.
Among their children was Christian August (1767 – 1807) who became a Görlitz doctor and pharmacist. At the age of 24 he took over the pharmacy (Ratsapotheke) on the Untermarkt which his father had founded in 1771. He campaigned for the introduction of the cowpox vaccination as compulsory vaccination. In 1807 he died of typhus and is buried in the Nikolaifriedhof.
He married Henriette Caroline Ehalt (1769 – 1827).
At his father’s request, Christian August studied medicine in Leipzig, although Christian August would have liked to have devoted himself to theology. He did his doctorate with the thesis: “On the influence of horror [trauma] on the human body”.
From his position as a doctor, he saw that poverty, ignorance and superstition often go hand in hand with poor hygienic conditions, which in turn are the cause of many diseases. Struve realized that in order to successfully treat disease, one must first change these conditions. With his “emergency and help panels” for midwifery training, for child treatment and for accident relief, he carried out educational work far beyond the borders of Upper Lusatia. His numerous publications, were addressed not only to doctors but also to patients and auxiliary workers, and show his great commitment to public health and rescue services. He saw that the general health education of lay people was an important part of his job. His advice given in many “emergency and help panels” spanned a wide range from the treatment and care of children with smallpox to first aid measures and instructions for midwives and expectant mothers.
In 1784 his name appeared as Doctor Struve on the book: Laborant im Großen oder Kunst, die chemischen Produkte fabrikmäßig zu verfertigenb, and in 1798 Handbuch der Erziehung für Mütter und Kinderfreunde nach Rousseau. And, Triumph der Heilkunst oder durch Thatsac …
In 1791 he became a member of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences. He published and translated numerous specialist articles (50 individual publications, 40 journal articles). This earned him honorary memberships in many medical societies.
He supervised the medical thesis: De terroris in corpus humanum vi dissertatio inauguralis medica and in 1795 Abhandlungen der Londoner Königlichen Gesellschaft zur Rettung Verunglückter und Scheintodter : vom Jahre 1774. bis 1784. nebst Zusätzen vom Jahre 1794. And in 1795: Ueber die Erziehung und Behandlung der Kinder in den ersten Lebensjahren
In 1798 Edward Jenner published a vaccination procedure against smallpox. Since this method was very controversial at the time, he tested the invention of the cowpox vaccination for three years. He also had children from poor families vaccinated. Unfortunately for Christian August Struve, he was not able to enforce a mandatory vaccination at that time. Some of his books were translated into English such as: A Practical Essay on the Art of Recovering Suspended Animation … and Asthenology: The Art of Preserving Febble Life and A familiar view of the domestic education of children during the early period of their lives ….
During the Napoleonic Wars he was an army doctor. From one of the wounded soldiers, Struve became infected with typhus and died. He was buried with military honors in the Nikolaifriedhof. His grave bears the inscription: “Death is beautiful and honorable for the fatherland, but even more beautiful is death that he found through beneficence”. In 1798, Ueber die Erziehung und Behandlung der Kinder in den ersten Lebensjahren … Below, his grave:
Christian August had two sons: Alexander Eduard Struve born on 4 April 1806 at Görlitz, Occupation Apotheker und Stadtrat (pharmacist and city councilor) in Görlitz. He died on 25 July 1879. Apart from this. little is known. His house in Gorlitz is now a restaurant called Filetto.
Of his other son Emil Ernst Struve (18.03.1802-10.05.1878) we know more. He married Luise Melos and they had as son – Paul ( 1834 – 1866). Emil Ernst was an assistant teacher at the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium Berlin, deputy headmaster at the Gymnasium Görlitz, a philologist, and secretary of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences in Görlitz and the editor of Neues Lausitzisches Magazin: Im Auftrage Der Oberlausitzischen Gessellschaft Der …
His published works include – Zur Erinnerung an Carl Friedr Zur Erinnerung an Carl Friedr. Imman. Bergmann : für seine Freunde und Schüler and Ueber den Zustand der Welt zur Zeit der Erscheinung Christi
Lucian von Samosata und die Zustände seiner Zeit
De Peregrini morte quae tradidit Lucianus num ad veritatem exhibita videantur
Die italiaenischen und lateinischen Handschriften der Bibliothek des Gymnasium zu Goerlitz : Verzeichniss, Beschreibung, Lesarten, Auszuege
Nachricht über eine ältere Handschriften-Bibliothek in Görlitz
Verzeichniss und Beschreibung einiger Handschriften der Milichschen Gymnasialbibliothek
Über den Zustand der Welt zur Zeit der Erscheinung Christi : ein Vortrag
Ventili︠a︡tory i nasosy; metod podbora i proektirovanii︠a︡
Quid Socrati pium videatur in Platonis Euthyphrone? )
Observationes aliquot in Sophoclis Antigonae carmen tertium
