Medical History Made on March 7, 1857

On this day in 1857 Julius Wagner-Jauregg was born. Julius was an Austrian physician who while not formerly trained in pathology of the nervous system made a great discovery for it. Julius experimentated with the idea of inducing a fever in patients with mental disease as a treatment. In 1917 he tried using malaria parasites which proved very effective in patients with dementia paralytica. This discovery earned him the Nobel Prize in Medicine 1927. We liked this story for the idea that something notoriously bad can be used in a good, beneficial way.