CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN NILS ROS'EN VON ROSENSTEIN AND ALBRECHT VON HALLER.

Abstract

Introduction The correspondence between R o s h and the famous anatomist and physiologist Haller began in the summer of 1729. Haller had a t that time returned to his home in Berne, having obtained his doctorate of medicine in 1727 a t Leiden under Boerhaave and subsequently travelled through England and France. Just before his arrival home he had visited J. Bernoulli in Basel. Rosdn had presented a thesis for a medical lectureship in Uppsala in the spring of 1728, and having been appointed he travelled for study purposes through Germany, staying for a fairly long period in Halle. After visiting Frankfurt am Main, Etrasbourg and Besangon he arrived in Geneva in the summer of 1729, where he stayed until April of the following year. Seven letters are preserved from this period, all dated in Geneva, and there is no apparent gap in the series. Haller’s answering letters from this period are, however, missing. RosBn’s first letter, dated the 8th July 1729 (No. 1) constitutes the first contact with Haller. RosBn had intended to visit Haller in Berne on the way to Geneva but had to change his travel plans and therefore wrote instead. Some authorities have maintained that Roskn met Haller when he was with Boerhaave in Leiden, but