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Hirschler, Ignaz

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Hungarian oculist; born at Presburg 1823; died at Budapest Nov. 11, 1891. He studied medicine at Vienna. After practising for two years at Paris he went to Budapest, where he achieved a reputation as an oculist. He wrote several works on the influence of alcohol and nicotine on the vision, on clinical treatment of the eyes, and on the pigments of the retina. He was a corresponding member of the Royal Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and was made a life-member of the Hungarian House of Magnates by Francis Joseph I. in recognition of his services to Hungarian Judaism. From 1860 until his death he was the intellectual leader of Jewish affairs in Hungary, being for some years president of the Jewish community of Pest. A personal friend of Baron Joseph Eötvös, he became his closest adviser when, as minister of public instruction and worship, Eötvös convened the Jewish congress at Budapest (1868) for regulating the Jewish communal institutions, of which congress Hirschler was elected president. His intelligence and zeal gave a remarkable impetus to the intellectual development of the Hungarian Jews, but the bitter conflicts which divided Judaism finally induced him to retire.