Abstract
Modern large-scale industrial enterprises originated in the second half of the nineteenth century.1 Companies of this type were distinguished by the fact that they built up their own marketing apparatus: no longer did they merely supply the wholesale trade, but they promoted sales of their products through advertising aimed at the end user. At the same time, some of these companies established their own research and development divisions. Among the leaders in this area were the electrical, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries.2
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
This study is based on the author’s Ph.D. thesis Wir haben fast immer was Neues. Gesundheitswesen und Innovationen der Pharma-Industrie ( Berlin, 1994 ). This paper was translated by Melissa Thorson Hause.
On the development of large-scale companies in general, see A.D. Chandler, Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism (Cambridge, Mass., 1990). On research and development, see D.C. Mowery and N. Rosenberg, Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth (Cambridge, 1989). On the electrical industry see P. Erker, ‘Die Verwissenschaftlichung der Industrie. Zur Geschichte der Industrieforschung in den europäischen und amerikanischen Elektrokonzernen 1890–1930’, Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte, 36 (1990), 73–94.
J.J. Beer, The Emergence of the German Dye Industry (Urbana, 1959); and idem. Beer, The Emergence of the German Dye Industry (Urbana, 1959); and idem, `Coal tar dye manufacture and the origins of the modern industrial research laboratory’, Isis, 49 (1958), 123–131.
G. Meyer-Thurow, ‘The industrialization of invention: a case study from the German chemical industry’, Isis, 73 (1982), 363–381.
E. Homburg, ‘The emergence of research laboratories in the German dyestuffs industry, 1870–1895’, British Journal for the History of Science, 25 (1992), 91–111.
Jonathan Liebenau’s very general survey, ‘Ethical business: The formation of the pharmaceutical industry in Britain, Germany, and the United States before 1914’, Business History,30 (1988), 116–129, represents an exception. It is, however, partly inaccurate.
J.P. Swann, Academic Scientists and the Pharmaceutical Industry (Baltimore, 1988 ).
Information on Cepha and the Freia List is available in company archives.
K. Brockhoff, Forschung und Entwicklung: Planung und Kontrolle (Munich, 1988 ).
Wimmer, op. cit. (1), pp. 144–147 and 183ff.
For Bayer see H. Pinnow, Werksgeschichte. Der Gefolgschaft der Werke Leverkusen, Elberfeld und Dormagen (Frankfurt/Main, 1938); Beer, op. cit. (3); G. Plumpe, Die I. G. Farbenindustrie AG. Wirtschaft, Technik und Politik, 1904–1945 (Berlin, 1990). On the development of industrial research see Meyer-Thurow, op. cit. (4).
The paper by C. Reinhardt, ‘An instrument of corporate strategy: The Central Research Laboratory at BASF 1868–1890’, in this volume, deals with a situation of this kind.
In addition to the literature cited in note 11, the following document from the Bayer archives is particularly significant: Geschichte und Entwicklung der Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. Elberfeld in den ersten 50 Jahren (München, 1918) (the so-called Böttinger-Festschrift).
See especially the contracts between Eichengrün and Bayer in Bayer-Archiv 271/2 Eichengrün.
On pharmacology at Bayer, see H. Schadewaldt and F.J. Morich, 100 Jahre Pharmakologie bei Bayer 1890–1990 (Leverkusen, 1990).
See the Preußisches Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Kultusministerium, VIII B, No. 1388; and the Deutsche Pharmakologische Gesellschaft ed., Zeittafeln zur Geschichte der pharmakologischen Institute des deutschen Sprachgebietes (Aulendorf, 1957 ).
On Ehrlich, see E. Bäumler, Paul Ehrlich. Forscher für das Leben (Darmstadt, 1979).
A. Eichengrün, ‘Pharmazeutisch-wissenschaftliche Abteilung’, in Geschichte und Entwicklung, op. cit. (13), pp. 409–416.
On Hoechst, see A.E. Schreier and M. Wex, Chronik der Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft, 1863–1988 (Frankfurt/Main, 1989 ).
Letter dated 12 July, 1884 in the Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Reichsgesundheitsamt, 1642, Blatt 48–52. Most passages relevant to the present discussion are in E. Rickel, ‘Die industrielle Arzneimittelforschung am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts und die Durchsetzung einer reduktionistischen Biologie’, in Materialistische Wissenschaftsgeschichte: Naturtheorie und Entwicklungsgedanke (Berlin, 1981) (= Das Argument-Sonderband,54) pp. 137–39.
On German patent law, see A. Fleischer, Patentgesetzgebung und chemisch pharmazeutische Industrie im deutschen Kaiserreich (1871–1918) (Stuttgart, 1984 ).
A.S. Travis, ‘Heinrich Caro and Ivan Levinstein: Uniting the colours of Ludwigshafen ad Lancashire’, in this volume.
W. Wimmer, ‘Die Pharmazeutische Industrie als ernsthafte Industrie: Die Auseinandersetzung um die Laienwerbung im Kaiserreich’, Medizin in Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 11 (1992), 73–86.
On Schering, see H. Holländer, Geschichte der Schering Aktiengesellschaft(Berlin, 1955 ).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wimmer, W. (1998). Innovation in the German Pharmaceutical Industry, 1880 to 1920. In: Homburg, E., Travis, A.S., Schröter, H.G. (eds) The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850–1914. Chemists and Chemistry, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3253-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3253-6_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4971-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-3253-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive