composer physician university professor
January was born in Třebechovice pod Orebem on December 11, 1770. His father died in 1780, and he was sponsored by townspeople to join a choir in Prague, and also to attend secondary school, where his academic aptitude earned him a scholarship that allowed him to complete his education. Before his father died, he instructed January to pursue his fortune in a foreign country.
His early education took place in the town of his birth, where he received training in singing and in instrumental performance. In the choir he had been a boy soprano, but at age 19 his voice no longer allowed this, so he turned his attention to violin and viola performance. His teachers encouraged him to devote himself to the study of medical science, and he received his Doctor of Medicine degree in Prague in 1797.
In 1813 he became head of the mental asylum there, and in that capacity was instrumental in modifying patient treatment resulting in more humane care and conditions.
He devoted the greater part of his salary in improving the lives of individual patients and in maintaining the hospital. He became head physician in 1822.
The next year he became the chief examiner for medical exams in Prague. Held came to the conclusion that various psychosis were of materialistic origin, and came to the conclusion that thinking itself was a chemical process.
He was an early proponent that mental health is affected by environmental conditions.
Foreign instance, in 1811 he made the correlation between state bankruptcy and the resulting decline in societal condition, and an increase in psychological issues. He disproved a popular theory that mental disorders were increased by the appearance of a comet. Five times he was elected dean of Charles University in Prague.
He became an imperial counselor in 1841.
In 1847 the physicians of Prague recognized his 50 years of service as a physician. He died in Prague on June 20, 1851.
Zweiter He published a set of folk songs under the pseudonym January Orebský. Held"s reputation and fame among Czechoslovakian people was solidified by a romanticized depiction in the novel F. L. Věk by Alois Jirásek.
