DRESSLER - La Mettrie's Death, or- The Nonsense of an Anecdote.pdf

8/11/2019 DRESSLER - La Mettrie's Death, or- The Nonsense of an Anecdote.pdf

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LA METTRIES DEATH, OR: THE NONSENSE

OF AN ANECDOTE

The definition of anecdote probably changed during the course of the

eighteenth century. An anecdote no longer refers only to a secret or

unpublished history but also to what so far has been known as gossip. The

Oxford Dictionary quotes a passage from Gullivers travels, in which

Swift speaks of an anecdote in the traditional sense as a secret history.

Swifts novel was published in 1727. In a letter from 1789 James Boswell

states that his Life of Johnson wil l certainly be full of literary and char-

acteristical anecdotes (which word, by the way, Johnson always con-

demned, as used in the sense that the French, and we from them, use it, as

signifying particulars). Samuel Johnson himself had sti ll defined an

anecdote as something yet unpublished; secret history2. Only by this

change of meaning did it become possible that an anecdote could cause

confusion between story and history as demonstrated by the following

example.

Un hom me fort gai, qui sappelait No t1 et qui ttait le cusinier unique et tr chir ie de Sa

Ma jestt Prussienne ce roi navait quun cu isinier, et No l navait quun se ul aide de cuisine

ou ma rmito n.... Sans Noel le pire, ou plut8t saris lhabiletk de cet artiste culinaire, le fam eux

Lam ettrie, ce mkd ecin athke, ne wa it pas mo rt dindigestion; car le pltk dont il mangea zi

outrance che z lord T yrconel avait ktk fair par NO EL ... II mourait en riant, quoiquon prttende

quil ny a point de mo rt plus ptnible que celle qui provient dune ind igestion.,

When Casanova refused to become a Prussian teacher, a job which had

been offered to him by Frederick the Great in August 1764, the French

physician and philosopher Julien Offray de La Mettrie had already been

dead for 13 years. In Berlin, not the materialist philosopher himself, rather

the anecdote about his death was kept in blessed memory. Casanova, of

course, was not the originator of this anecdote of which the sources cant

be elicited.

In 1746, La Mettrie fled the pursuit of the medical faculty in Paris and

French censorship as well by escaping to Holland. After the famous book

by La Mettrie, his LHomme machine was published in 1747 at Leyden,

both the author as well as his publisher Elie Luzac thought it would be

advisable to prevent the new (self caused) endangerment by an escape to

Prussia. Maupertuis, a mathematician and like La Mettrie born at St.

Malo and since 1740 president of the academy of sciences in Berlin, was

able to convince the Prussian king to allow his compatriot to take resi-

dence in Prussia. La Mettrie died on November 1 th, 1751, only three

years after his arrival at the Prussian court. Soon after his death the above

mentioned anecdote circulated through nearly all the papers, notes and

books published on La Mettrie.

For example, Lessing, who reviewed several of La Mettries books,

informs the reader of his Critische Nachrichten aus dem Reiche der Ge-

Neoph ilofogus 75 (

1991) 194- 99


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Stephan Dressler - The Nonsenseof an Anecdote

195

lehrsamkeit: Wir haben unseren auswlrtigen Lesern abermals eine

Nachricht, welche den Herrn de la Mettrie betrifft, mitzuteilen. Ohne

Zweifel vermuthen sie eine kleine witzige Thorheit, die er schon wieder

begangen hat. Es ist so was; ja: wenn sie nur nicht auf seiner Seite etwas

allzuernsthaft ausgefallen ware. Er ist gestorben.4

The character of an anecdote is mainly, if not at all, designed by the

personal attitude which it usually takes. An anecdote does not only refer

to persons, but first of all, it is told by persons. Thus, anecdotes gain a

subjectivity and imply a personal, if not biased aspect. The one who tells

an anecdote is consequently being referred to as an

anecdutier

in French.

As far as La Mettrie is concerned it is rather unlikely that Frederick II.,

known as the Great, himself was the first anecdotier, even when he already

wrote on November 21st 1747 to his sister Wilhelmine: Nous avons perdu

le pauvre La Mettrie. 11est mort pour une plaisanterie, en mangeant tout

une pate de faisan; aprb avoir gagnt une terrible indigestion, il sest avist

de se faire saigner, pour prouver aux mtdecins allemands quon pouvait

saigner dans une indigestion. Cela lui a ma1 reussi; il a pris une fievre vio-

lonte qui, degeneree en fievre putride, la emportC.5 Who wonders that

the

Eloge,

which Frederick the Great dedicated to La Mettrie in the acad-

emy of sciences about a couple of months later, contained nothing else but

a very friendly appraisal of the French philosopher? Probably those, who

already had made eager use of the anecdote about the gai, bon diable6

by themselves, were surprised by the Kings altered attitude. Whoever

knew La Mettrie now knew the anecdote about his death. Voltaire had

already communicated this anecdote on November 13th 1751, two days

after the death of the philosopher, to Louis Armand Francois Du Plessis,

due de Richelieu: Ce la Metric, cet homme machine, ce jeune medecin,

cette vigoureuse Sante, cette folle imagination, tout cela vient de mourir

pour avoir mange par vanite tout un pate de faisan aux truffes. Voyla, mon

heros, une de nos farces achevees.

Voltaire did even know, that the

p&P

was delivered from far abroad to

Berlin and contained spoiled bacon. And, what becomes a point of the

uttermost importance for Voltaire: La Mettrie was the only one among the

guests of the French ambassador Tyrconnell, who consumed an excessive

of that p&t. The consequences of such a lack of moderation are obvious

and need not be pointed out, at least for Voltaire: the value of La Mettries

philosophy can be considered by taking his dining-manners into regard.

These dining-manners evidently correlate with his thoughts and writings.

Since this anecdote has been modified by Voltaires plume it has gained a

somewhat pointed manner and now owns a significant aspect, which will

prohibit any serious discussion of La Mettries works for the next decades.

Truffle pie and materialism - the latter being a nuisance to the French

maitre penseur ever since-are now linked in a way, which will always

allow to adduce truffles as an irrefutable argument against La Mettries

materialism. In addition, and Voltaire might have taken this into consider-


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196 Stephan Dressier The Nonsenseofan Anecdote

ation as well, it is a fact that the one who tells an anecdote does tell a story

rather than history. Instead of his thought and philosophy. only the story

of La Mettries death remains known.

Very brief, but not without a cynical breeding is what Johann Georg

Zimmermann notes about La Mettriess death in his famous Albrecht von

Haller biography. Zimmermann can be considered as one of the most

faithful pupils Albrecht von Haller ever had. Since La Mettrie put a satir-

ical dedication to Albrecht von Haller in front of his LHomme machine,

there were many quarrels between the famous physiologist and the French

physician-philosopher and it is not surprising at all that Zimmermann has

nothing good to say about La Mettrie:

Der Tod des Herrn de La Mettrie

erfolgte in Berlin, den 10. Nov. 1751, nachdem er sich bey dem Franzo-

sischen Abgesandten, Mylord Tirconnel, an einer Pastete krank gegessen

hatte. Von seinen lezten Stunden sol1 niemand nichts riihmen.

It is significant that Friedrich Albert Lange gives the reader the impres-

sion in his Geschichte des Materialismus that he himself would like to do

without the anecdote on La Mettrie. And it is a characteristic as well,

which shows the self-dynamics of an anecdote, that Lange cant do with-

out it. But he is trying to make the best of it: La Mettries Hinscheiden im

Fieberdelirium infolge des Verschlingens einer grogen Triiffelpastete ist

eben ein Gegenstand, der geeignet ist, den engen Horizont eines Fanati-

kers so vollstandig auszufiillen, dal3 keine andere Vorstellung mehr Platz

hat. ijbrigens ist die ganze Geschichte, welche so vie1 Aufsehen gemacht

hat, was die Hauptsache betrifft, nlmlich die eigentliche Todesursache,

noch nicht einmal fiber den Zweifel erhaben.

The truth of an anecdote cant always be proven and even more often,

the truth shall not be proven since this would almost equal an invalidation

of the anecdote. Emil duBois-Reymond, the attentive and careful German

physiologist, tried to find out the truth about La Mettries death. After

citing Lange not without sympathy, duBois-Reymond continues:

Scheinbar vij llig wohl, nimmt er (La Mettrie) an der Mahlzeit teil; es wird

eine Fasanenpastete mit Triiffel aufgetragen; er allein il3t davon sehr viel;

gleich nach Tische fiihlt er sich so unwohl, da13 er im Gesandschaftshotel

zu Bette gebracht wird; er verfallt in heftiges Fieber, verordnet sich selber

Aderlag und warme Blder, stirbt aber, trotz Cotenius und Lieberktihns

Beistand, drei Tage darauf, am 11. November 1751, nicht ganz 42 Jahre

alt, bis zum letzten Hauche seinen uberzeugungen und seiner Art, sie zu

BuBern, getreu.O The amount of historical sources reviewed by duBois-

Reymond in order to enlighten the affair can be gathered from a footnote,

which refers to the passage from Casanova quoted above: Es wurde

darauf die mir brieflich mitgeteilte Vermutung gegriindet, die Pastete sei

Noels beri.ihmte Bombe a la Sardanapale gewesen, ein gefii llter Kohlkopf

und angeblich Friedrichs Leibgericht, wozu das Rezept in Gustav Par-

theys Jugenderinnerungen sich tindet. Indes spricht nichts fur diese

Vermutung; auf das bestimmteste widerlegt wird sie aber sogar dadurch,


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Stephan Dressler The Nonsense

f

an Anecdote

197

dab Friedrich selbst in den jiingst erschienen Gesprlchen mit de Catt die

Pastete un pate de pirogues,... eine Austernpastete nennt. Finally, even

duBois-Reymond would have to admit despite all research: Vom heutig-

en Crztlichen Standpunkte lal3t sich aus den Nachrichten iiber La Mettries

Leiden kein verstlndliches Krankheitsbild zusammensetzen.2

Oyster, truffle, pheasant or cabbage-pie - the anecdote always exper-

iences new variations and will be enriched by quite a few details, while

being communicated from one generation of scientists and researchers to

the next. The different versions of this anecdote have been compiled with

an astonishing thoroughness, which cant be easily excelled. by Jakob

Elias Poritzky, who focusses on the religious and philosophical implica-

tions of the anecdote. Poritzky reports the futile efforts of the Irish

clergyman Mac-Mahon who during the three days of La Mettries disease

tried to bring him back to Christianity: Auch Maupertuis versuchte.

Lamettrie von seinen rationalistischen Prinzipien abzubringen; aber, das

war verlorene Liebesmiih. Was wiirde man von mir sagen. wenn ich wie-

der gesund wiirde antwortete der ihm kurz.3

Nicolai, Voltaire, Desormes, La Beaumelle, Marquis dArgens and

many others are cited by Poritzky. But finally the reader gets the impres-

sion that all the material which was collected by Poritzky overwhelms the

painstaking author in his thesis. What does one do with all these aus

sicheren Quellen stammenden Anekdoten14? What does one do with

numerous anecdotes, which all do have an identical value, once you start

reconstructing a historical truth from them? The best idea would probably

be what Poritzky decided to do: he augmented the many versions of the

anecdote with even more versions from sources so far unknown or disre-

garded. In doing so, Poritzky managed to avoid the evaluation of truth,

reliability and value of the anecdote as a historical source and on the other

hand, he gained a security, which is definitely very welcome, when telling

anecdotes.

While Poritzky has to deal with much more than one anecdote, Wilhelm

Dilthey briefly resumes: Als dann le pauvre La Mettrie so friihzeitig der

vie1 erorterten Fasanenpastete erlegen war, hat der K&rig ihm die Dank-

rede in der Akademie gehalten.5

Evidently, the shorter an anecdote, the less ts factual contents: Am 11.

November 175 1 stirb La Mettrie, Opfer einer Nahrungsmittelvergiftung

durch eine Triiffelpastete.

That is certainly true, but who could really tell it was a truffle-pie? An

den Folgen einer Triiffelpastete, mit der er sich den Magen iiberladen

hatte, ist der philosophierende Gourmand 175 1 gestorben.17

So it was not food-contamination at all? Proof, or at least the attempt to

seek proof as duBois-Reymond has undertaken it is completely lacking

now. But one must admit that duBois-Reymond himself has demon-

strated how futile such research can be. But, and this is more important as

far as the anecdote is concerned: the last two of the authors cited above


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198

Stephan Lkessler The Nonsenseof an Anecdote

dont even say that they are communicating an anecdote. The story itself is

taken for history, what might be a part of the self-dynamics of an anecdote

as well. After more than 230 years since La Mettries death Martin Fontius

remains the only one who has given a solemn assessment of the death of a

philosopher.*

It is one strategy to emphasize the importance of an anecdote by point-

ing to its history and presenting its famous unecdotiers like Voltaire or

Frederick the Great. The anecdote concerning La Mettries death may

serve as an example for the rather poor aspect of anecdotes, and in a cer-

tain sense it may even serve as an example for the contingency and bounds

of possibility of anecdotes in general. The anecdote communicated here

raises gossip to the rank of biographical or historical data and is used

excessively to discredit someone whose materialistic philosophy was dis-

liked anyway. An obscure pie is attached to a certain philosophy: the effect

is first of all a surprise. The clever Voltaire was probably the only one who

understood what hed done by telling this anecdote; at least he understood

the character of an anecdote very well: Lanecdote quon vous a corntee

de Mtrope et de Lanoue, est comme bien dautres anecdotes, il ny a pas un

mot de vrai. Only after Friedrich Albert Lange pointed out the ques-

tionable character of this anecdote, it slowly started to loose some of its

former importance.

On the other hand this anecdote doesnt show disadvantages only. It is

an entertaining anecdote, which is told in a superb style every once and a

while and can make the reader smile. Placed somewhere in between story

and history, the anecdote concerning La Mettries death is at least a plai-

doyer not to take a story for history. The EncyclopPdistes were well aware

of this risk already: Mais outre ces histoires secretes p&endues vraies, la

plupart des terns fausses ou du moins suspectes, les critiques donnent le

nom danecdotes a tout ecrit de quelque genre quil soit, qui na pas encore

ttC publie.

Berlin

STEPHAN DRESSLER

Notes

I James Boswell. The Oxford English Dictionary (James A. H. Murray, Henry Bradley,

W. A. Craigie, C.T. Onions, eds.), Vol.1, Oxford, Clarendon, 1933, p. 319-320

2. Sam uel Johnson, Anecdote, in: A Dictionary of the English Language (London, W.

Strahan 1755). Vol.1, Reprint Hildeshe im, Olms, 1968 (no pagination)

3. Giacomo Casanova, Mimoires. Tome troisieme. 1763- I774 (Robert Abirached ed.),

Paris, Gallimard , 1960, p. 389-390

4. Gotthold Ephraim Lessmg. (Nachricht vom Tode La Mettries): in: Siim tliche Schrif-

ten Band 4 (Karl Lachmann ed.7. Stuttgart, G.J. Goschen, 3.Auflag d1889, p. 279

5. Frederic le Grand, Lettre 232 a la Margrave de Baireuth: in: Oeuvres de Frederic le

Grand. Tome XXVII, 1 (Correspondance), B n, Rodolp he Decker, 1856, p. 203. S. Elog e

de M. de La Mettrie, in: Oeuvres de Frederic le Grand. Tome VII (Oeuvres historiques),

Berlin 1847, Rodolp he Decker. pp. 22-27

6. Frederic le Grand loc.cit.


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Stephan Dressier The Nonsenseof an Anecdote 199

7. BestD 4605 , in: Les oeuvres com plete de Voltaire 96 (= Correspondenc e and related

docum ents, Theodor Bestermann ed.) , Inst i tut et Musee Voltaire, Les Delices, Geneve 1971,

p. 313

8. Johann Geora Zimm ermann, Das Leben des Herrn von Haller. Zur ich, Heideager,

-

--

1755, p. 237

9. Friedrich Albert Lange. Ges chichte des Ma terialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in

der Gegenwart (Alfred Schm idt ed.) , Erstes Buch, Frankfurt /M., Suhrkamp, 1974, p. 376

10. Emil duBo is-Reym ond, La Me ttr ie; in: Vortrage iiber Philosophie und Ge sellscha ft

(Siegfried W ollgast ed.), Berlin, Akade mie-Verlag, 1974, p. 87f.

I l . duBois-Reymond loc.cit . p. 263

12. duBois-Reymond loc.cit . p. 88

13. Jakob Elias Por itzky, Jul ien O ffray de Lamettr ie, Ber lin, F. Diimmler, 1900, p. 36f.

14. Por itzky loc.cit . p. 39

15. Wilhelm Dilthey, Fr iedrich der GroSe und die deutsche Aufklarung; m: Gesam melte

Schriften Band 3 (Paul Ritter ed.), Stuttgart/Giitt ingen, TeubneriVandenhoek Rup recht,

3.Auflage 1962, p. 94

16. Leo Men del, La Me ttr ie. A rzt, Philosoph und Sch riftsteller. Leipzig 1965, Leipziger

Universititsreden 30, p. 10

17. Georg Holm sten, Fr iedr ich I I , Reinbek, Rowo hlt , 22.-25Tsd. 1976, p. 91

18. Martin Fon tius, Der Tod eines philosophe. Beitr lge zur Rom anische n Philologie

VI. 1967, Heft 1, p. 5-28, Heft 2, p. 226-251

19. Bes t.D2085 7, Voltaire to Jean Franco is de La Ha rpe, 25.10.177 7. in: Les oeuvres

com plete de Voltaire 129 ( = Correspondence and related docum ents, Giles Barbed ed.), The

Voltaire Found ation, Thorpe Mande ville Hou se, Banbu ry, Oxfordshire 1976, p. 68

20. Art. Anecdotes, in: Encyclopedic ou Dict ionnaire raisonnt des Sciences, des Arts et

des Metiers, Tom e premier (Par is 1751) Repr int Stuttgart/Bad Cann statt , Fromman n-Holz-

boog, 1966. p. 453

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DRESSLER - La Mettrie's Death, or- The Nonsense of an Anecdote.pdf