Dr Arnoldus van Rhijn
1844-1923 (Xd., N.P.1994, blz. 314)
Arnoldus van Rhijn
was bom on 8 March 1844 in
Katwijk aan Zee, a small village at the west coast of the Netherlands, near the
Hague. He was a son of Dr. Hendrik Bernardus van Rhijn, general practitioner in
Katwijk, and Sophia Gijsberta de Graaf. On 20 September 1861 he started to
study medicine at the University of Leiden. After
he graduated in 1867, he worked as assistent-practitioner in the "Buiten
Gasthuis" hospital in Amsterdam, where he prepared his dissertation. He
became "doctor medicinae" cum laude at the University of Leiden on 7
February 1868 on the thesis entitled "Aphasia". He then obtained his
degree of "doctor artis obstetriciae" on 4 July 1868 and completed
his study with a degree of "doctor chirurgiae" cum laude on 5 March
1869, all at the same University. Apart from his dissertation on Aphasia, it
seems that he did not publish any other papers on medical issues. As a young
physician, he obtained a Royal Award on 23 November 1867 for his performance
during an epidemy of cholera in 1866. After his study, Arnoldus started his
profession as general practitioner in 1869 in Oostzaan, just north of Amsterdam,
where he met his wife Jannetje Kruijt. They were married in Katwijk on 8
February 1872. That same year they moved to Leiden, where they had bought
"Ter Lugt" House, an ancient mansion in the center of the city.
Arnoldus continued practicing medicine until after his 50th anniversary as
physician on 7 of February 1918. He was made Honorary Member of the Royal Dutch
Medical Association. His wife died on 13 January 1880 during an epidemy of
scarlet fever, shortly after she gave birth to her youngest child. A few months
later two of their six children died of the same disease. On 10 November 1897
Arnoldus remarried to Christina Hendrika Josina Fokker. Besides being a general
practitioner, he was also a city councillor of Leiden for a few years. In the
world of chess he was a well-known person too, not only as president of the
Royal Dutch Chess Federation (1896-1905 and 1906-1908), but also as a national
and international chess- player. He died on 15 February 1923, af ter a short
illness.
N.B. De biografie van Dr. Arnoldus van Rhijn, de overgrootvader
van ondergetekende, is in het Engels gesteld, omdat het heeft gediend als
hoofdstuk in een Engelstalig artikel van een wetenschapper (Dr. Eling) van de
Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen over de "vergeten" dissertatie van
Arnoldus over Aphasie (een taalstoornis ten gevolge van een hersenletsel). Op
basis van deze publicatie heeft ook een voordracht plaats gehad tijdens een
internationaal congres over de geschiedenis van de neurologie in het
Amerikaanse Buffalo op 8 en 9 mei 1996. Dat het hier gaat om een opzienbare
dissertatie blijkt uit de volgende toelichting van Dr. Eling: Arnoldus van
Rhijn finished his medical studies at the University of Leiden in 1868 with a
dissertation on "Aphasia". Apparently nobody was impressed by this
booklet and it was quickly forgotten. Van Rhijn's thesis was the first Dutch
study on the nature of aphasia. In it, he developed a view on the psychological
foundation of language in the brain. Six years before Wernicke (de
internationale wetenschapper die verantwoordelijk was voor de doorbraak in de
manier waarop wij denken over het functioneren van de hersens, avr), Van Rhijn
hypothesized that aphasia may occur not only after lesions to language-related
centers, but also as a consequence of a disconnection of centers. The thesis
also contains an early description of the phenomenon of "conduite
d'approche" or "verbal approximation".
A.C.F. van
Rhijn Wassenaar, februari 1998
Op de achtergrond Huis ter Lucht te Leiden, ooit woonhuis van
Arnoldus van Rhijn