Carl Moeli


Carl Franz Moeli was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Kassel.
He studied medicine in Marburg, Würzburg and Leipzig followed by work as an assistant at clinics in Rostock and Munich. In 1880 he became an assistant to Carl Westphal in the psychiatric clinic at the Berlin-Charité. At the Charité he performed anatomical studies of the optic nerve, research involving the pupillary reaction of mental patients, the effects of syphilis on the brain, and clinical studies of alcoholism. In 1883 he received his habilitation for psychiatry, and during the following year worked as an assistant medical director at the Städtische Irrenanstalt Dalldorf in Berlin.
In 1893 he became the first director of the newly built Irrenanstalt Herzberge, a position he maintained until 1914. Also he played an important role as adviser to the German government in regards to mental health issues. One of Moeli's better known assistants at Herzberge was neurologist Karl Birnbaum.
Moeli died on 4 November 1919 in Berlin.
He is best remembered for his work in forensic psychiatry. He performed extensive research involving the forensic relationship of alcoholism and alcoholic psychosis. He had particular interest in so-called "degenerative personalities" and associated psychoses.

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