His early education was carried on at Weimar, where his father held the office of court physician to the grand duchess. In 1780 he entered the university of Jena, and in the following year proceeded to Göttingen, where in 1783 he graduated in medicine. After assisting his father for some years at Weimar, he was called in 1793 to the chair of medicine at Jena, receiving at the same time the dignities of court physician and councillor at Weimar.
In 1798 he was placed at the head of the medical college and generally of state medical affairs in Berlin. He filled the chair of pathology and therapeutics in the university of Berlin, founded in 1809, and in 1810 became councillor of state.
Hufeland is celebrated as the most eminent practical physician of his time in Germany. and as the author of numerous works displaying extensive reading and cultivated and critical faculty.
The most widely known of his many writings is the treatise entitled Makrobiotik, oder die Kunst, das menschliche Leben zu verlangern (1796), which was translated into many languages. Of his practical works, the System of Practical Medicine (System der praktischen Heilkunde, 1818-1828) is the most elaborate. From 1795 to 1835 he published a Journal der praktischen Arznei und Wundarzneikunde. His autobiography was published in 1863. There are sketches of his life and labours by Augustin and Stourdza (1837).
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.