ADHD - An Illustrated historical overview

I n 1816, Hoffmann was enrolled in school, and during his elementary school years was tormented by some of his classmates. He was said, on the one hand, to be a feeble and anxious child, but also, on the other, lively, talk- ative, funny and inventive. It is also re- ported that he hardly took school seri- ously until tertiary level, and that he was initially a rather lazy and distracted pupil. In 1828, he finished high school with the German Abi- tur. From 1829 to 1832, Hoff- mann studied medicine in Heidelberg, then continued his studies in Halle, where he obtained his doctorate. He then lived in Paris for a few months. When his father fell ill and died, the young doctor returned to Frank- furt and settled as general practitioner and obstetrician. Some doctors in Frankfurt had founded a clinic for the poor and underprivileged that Hoffmann later joined. In 1840, Hoffmann married Therese Donner; their son Carl Philipp was born a year later, but died young in 1868 in Peru. Their daughter Antonie Caro- line (Lina) was born in 1844; her hus- band later left her a young widow, and she and her children moved into her father´s house until she died. The third child, Eduard, born in 1848, was very successful, but remained single and childless.