**Michael Schüppach in his ‘apothecary’ in Langnau im Emmental. Print, circa 1775.** Swiss National Museum

The famous mountain doctor from Emmental

Through his sometimes unconventional methods, Michael Schüppach made a name for himself as a barber-surgeon well beyond the Emmental region.

Katrin Brunner

Katrin Brunner is a self-employed journalist specialising in history and chronicler of Niederweningen.

The poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and his companion, Duke Carl August, were flabbergasted when they stood before the “… very peculiar and very fat…” Michael (also known as Michel) Schüppach on 17 October 1779. They had imagined the famous doctor somehow differently. On top of that, Schüppach was ill tempered on that particular day. He was suffering from digestive problems and his wife Marie Flückiger was away. She was the mountain doctor’s assistant and translated whenever French-speaking patients came to see him.

A portrait of Marie Flückiger from 1774. — **Because his wife Marie Flückiger was away,** Swiss National Museum

Portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. — **... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe met an ill-tempered Schüppach.** Wikimedia / National Library of Wales

Michael Schüppach was born in Biglen in the canton of Bern in 1707, the eldest of seven children. He left school at 16 and embarked on an apprenticeship as a barber-surgeon, an occupation that covered haircutting and beard shaving, but also included medical training to treat wounds and perform surgery. The young Michael was so good with patients that he was able to take over Hans Fuhrer’s barber shop in Langnau im Emmental aged just 20.

The role of the barber-surgeon

From as early as the Middle Ages, barber-surgeons were medically trained to treat wounds and diseases, as well as shaving, hair cutting and personal grooming. The services of barber-surgeons were so in demand that they were often called on to treat soldiers during wartime. However, the quality of training varied according to the knowledge of teachers and the talent and ambition of students.

Between chemistry and natural healing

Schüppach’s interest went well beyond what he was taught in the classroom. He was an excellent observer. Goethe described how he inspected his visitors with his “…piercing, light-coloured eyes…”, almost as though he could see right inside them. As a proponent of the humoral medical theory – which at the time was already contested outside of Emmental – he was nevertheless very successful in his diagnoses. By observing his patients and examining their urine, he provided many a successful therapy. Schüppach was a lifelong learner and knew as much about natural healing as he did about chemistry. He usually mixed his own tinctures and healing potions and sometimes gave them curious names such as ‘Blüemliherz’ (little flower heart), ‘Freudenöl’ (pleasure oil) and ‘liebreicher Himmelstau’ (loving sundew). Schüppach also kept a diary about his patients, documenting their ailments, treatments, and the prescribed medicines with painstaking precision.

**Portrait of Michael Schüppach, 1774.** Swiss National Museum

A trailblazer for tourism

Goethe wasn’t really sick when he stopped in Langnau on his tour of Switzerland. He was merely curious. Others who were interested and apparently sick also headed to Emmental. Schüppach’s illustrious patients included priest, philosopher and practitioner of the (now discredited) practice of physiognomics, Johann Caspar Lavater; travel writer César de Saussure; mathematician and physicist Samuel Rudolf Jeanneret from Grandson; and Rosine King of Wyttenbach, whose diabetes Michael Schüppach failed to cure. But not everyone admired the mountain doctor from Emmental. One of his harshest critics was Albrecht von Haller (1708–77), a famous physician and natural scientist from Bern. Without ever visiting Schüppach, von Haller dubbed the Langnau doctor as a “market trader”, basing his views mainly on reports by Jakob Köchlin. Köchlin, also a doctor, was from Alsace and had visited Schüppach “the farmer from Langnau” in 1775. But all this criticism didn’t harm the mountain doctor’s popularity in the slightest. At peak times he would see between 80 and 90 patients in his small practice. His guests would often stay overnight or for several days. In 1733 Schüppach acquired the Gasthof Bären Inn in Langnau, to practise there and also to be able to offer accommodation. In 1739 a spa building was added to the house and laboratory. Schüppach therefore built his own little empire and, in doing so, launched tourism in the region.

**Michael Schüppach’s empire on a print from the 1770s: the doctor’s home (1), the guest house (2) and the laboratory (3).** Swiss National Museum

What Michael Schüppach may have lacked in medical training, he made up for with his knowledge of human nature. He had a remarkable ability to read people. Equally remarkable was his openness to new treatment methods. For example, he purchased an electrostatic generator – a revolutionary device at the time that was designed to heal people thought to be possessed by the devil using targeted electrical current. Unfortunately, we don’t know how successful it was. Despite his numerous medical successes, Schüppach was a child of his time and – like most of his local patients – he was highly superstitious. His practice in Langnau contained many a superstitious remedy, such as pulverised gemstones, spiders, toads and even the horn of a ‘unicorn’ (narwhal tusk).

**Hand-operated electrostatic generator belonging to Michael Schüppach.** Picture provided

**Picture of a narwhal (front) in a biology schoolbook from the UK, 1889** Wikimedia

Business was booming, as shown by the entries in Schüppach’s consultation books. Patients sometimes came from far away to see him, allowing the doctor’s family to enjoy a comfortable life and lending Langnau a decidedly international flair. But his success was eyed with suspicion by some of his colleagues. Michael Schüppach treated and operated on people, although he had no professional qualifications. He also trained apprentices and even carried out examinations to assist with the murder case of Hans Heimberger, who was found battered to death in a small barn in Trub in 1754. Schüppach had to be admonished twice before he finally obtained his master’s certificate from the Bernische Chirurgische Societät in 1746 and from then on was able to use the title ‘Medicinae et Chirurgiae Practico’. Yet Schüppach seemed not to pay much heed to his own medical advice. Contemporary pictures and descriptions suggest that he was a corpulent and ponderous man who was usually sedentary when he saw patients. At the age of 74 he suffered a fatal stroke and was subsequently forgotten for many years.

More of: Modern Age Research Education Article

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