Dr Jacob Eduard Pollak

POLAK, Jakob Eduard (b. 12 November 1818 in Mořina (Groβ Morzin), Czech Republic; d. 8 October 1891 in Vienna), Jacob was circumcised in 1819 by Josef Steinhart in Morina. Steinhart may have been a great uncle. In the circumcision document sent to me by Afsaneh Gaechter Jakob is listed as being circumcised on 12 December 1818. The circumcision took place in the Morina synagogue.

HBMa 1295 12.11.1818, h.6, Jacob Pollak, par.Elias /par.Enoch, trader in Kozolupy a.Sara, daughter of Abr.Neumann a. Rosalia b.Bohatschek from Horzeletz. (ref National Archives).

His name is spelled in different ways Polak, Pollak, Polack.

In 1783 shortly before his birth Morina was one of the five largest Jewish districts in the Beroun District and had its own school teacher Samuel Perl. The synagogue was funded in the 1760's. It was house number 59 today privately owned and in a dilapidated state says Dr Afsaneh Gaechter.

The cemetery was established in 1736 on a hill about 500 metres northwest of the synagogue. However the Jewish community declined and was dissolved in 1908 and all Jews assigned to the neighbouring village of Litten (Liten) which is to the south of Morina but still in the Beroun District.
Gaechter says that Enoch his grandfather may have settled in 1785 leasing the potash works and living in the river house. He also traded in small goods and linen. (JMP)

Austrian physician and writer who was instrumental in establishing modern medicine in Iran. From 1851 to 1860, he taught medicine at the Dār al-fonun, and from 1855 to 1860, he served as personal physician of Nāṣer-al-Din Shah (r. 1848-96). He summarized his experiences in the study Persien: Das Land und seine Bewohner (1865), which belongs to the outstanding ethnographic works about 19th-century Iran. Jacob was known as "Perser Polak" writes Dr Gaechter in her book Letters from Persia.

Jacob was the third son born into a Jewish family in Central Bohemia, which was part of the Habsburg Empire. The town was Gross Morzin today Morina. It is in the Beroun District south west of Prague.Jacob had two older brothers Hermann (Herschel) and Yitzhak (Isack, Isak) and younger siblings Rosalia, Charlotte, Abraham and Ignaz. His parents were Elias, a potash maker and a kosher butcher in Morina and Sara born Neumann in Morina. My great great grandfather Yitzhak was a wandering teacher of Hebrew in Bohemia. His son Jacob named for his famous uncle was my great grandfather.

The Jewish quarter was in the western part of the town on the northern side of the main road and consisted of nine houses including the synagogue. Behind these houses was the river house where potash was processed. That is potassium carbonate used in making glass. Potash was made by burning timber. Between 1724 and 1757 only two Jewish families lived in the town. (Ref. JMP) Remnants of these houses exist today.

Abraham Neumann his maternal grandfather was a tenant in a manor house. From 1785 to 1818 he worked as a distiller making spirits such as schnapps.

Jacob wrote his will in Baden Austria in August 1891 and mentions that his brother Hermann lived in Wotitz in Bohemia, his sister Rosalia lived in Capka near Melnik in Bohemia. She was buried in the new jewish cemetery in Zizkov in Prague. His other sister Charlotte lived in Smichov in Prague 5. He notes she is well off. Charlotte was married to a lawyer Markus Bloch and they had a son Julius who was also a lawyer.

Jacob attended the k und k Akademische Gymnasium in Prague from 1833. It was run by the Jesuits at the Klementinum. Today the school is in Stepanska in the city. He lived on the street that runs alongside the Vltava river near the Rudolfinum. He was exempted from paying fees at the university. He studied philosophy and medicine in Prague and Vienna where he obtained degrees in medicine (Dr. med. 1845) and surgery (Dr. chir. 1847), and was trained in obstetrics/gynecology (Magister 1849).

As a student in Prague at the Charles University he lived in Johannesplatz 885. Today that street no longer exists and is named Dvarokovo nabrezi. It runs along the river between two bridges, Most Svatopluka Cecha and Most Stefanikuv. It is close to the Klementinum.

After his father died Jacob had a guardian and was supported by him. He was a relative Leopold Fuerth (born 1797 died 1864) Leopold was also known as Juda and Jakob and was a leading person in the community in Amschelberg (Kosova Hora) whose mother was born Rachel Pollak. Fuerth came from Kosova Hora and after Elias died Jacob left Morina to study in Prague and Vienna so he needed a legal guardian who was Leopold. Ruth Fuerth's father was Moyses POLLAK a Familiant of Amschelberg . (Thanks to Peter Lowe for this information)

After 1845 Jacob Polak worked for a year at Vienna’s General Hospital (Allgemeines Krankenhaus, that is: AKH), and was then for two years factory physician in a sugar refinery plant in Klobauk (Valasske Klobouky), Moravia. From 1848 to 1849, he was again employed at Vienna’s General Hospital (Wurzbach, p. 73; cf. Hāšemiān, p. 12). He graduated with a doctorate from the Medical school in Vienna on May 26 1846 and a year later got his Master's degree..

His life took an unexpected turn when in 1851 Jān Dāʾud Khan visited Vienna to recruit, on the behest of Mirzā Taqi Khan Amir Kabir (1807-52), teachers for the new Dār al-fonun. Dāʾud Khan’s contact in the Foreign Ministry was Heinrich von Barb (Slaby, pp. 58, 69), who from 1852 until 1867 was professor of Persian at the Vienna Polytechnic Institute (K.K. Polytechnisches Institut). Polak was hired as professor of medicine and pharmacy; the initial contract for four years is dated 10 August 1851. After an arduous journey through Istanbul and Armenia he arrived with six colleagues—among them the artillery officer and geographer August Křziž (1814-86)—on 24 November 1851 in Tehran. Their arrival coincided with the downfall of Amir Kabir, and their official reception was cold, since nobody felt responsible for them (Polak, 1865, I, pp. 300-301). The men were not considered an official Austrian delegation, because at that time Austria did not maintain diplomatic relations with Persia.
British and French diplomats realized the political implications of recruiting non-allied foreigners for the new military college, and treated them with enmity (Ādamiyat, pp. 356-60). But despite the changed political circumstances, the Dār al-fonun was inaugurated a month after Polak’s arrival, and the work began. Polak became one of the most successful instructors at the Dār al-Fonun. Initially he taught in French with the help of his translator Moḥammad Ḥosayn Khan Qājār (Waqāyeʿ-e ettefāqiya, no. 98, 5 Rabiʿ I 1269 [17 December 1852]), who may be identical with Adib-al-Dawla (1835-97). But soon Polak taught himself Persian, and wrote medical textbooks in Persian. Though Polak (1865, I, pp. 303, 312, 319) did not have many students—he gives their number as 14—they graduated successfully, and seven continued their medical education in Paris.

In January 1852, after the death of Fortunato Casolani (1819-52), who was from a British family in Malta and had served as the general supervisor of all military physicians, Polak was appointed to this largely ceremonial position. Three years later he succeeded Louis-André-Ernest Cloquet (1818-55) as personal physician of Nāṣer-al-Din; the official appointment in 1272/1855 was recorded as “manṣab-e ḥakimbāšigari-e ḥożur-e homāyun” (Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana, 1988, p. 1782). Polak (1865, II, pp. 37, 208) also tutored the Shah: he continued the French lessons with which his predecessor had started, and taught the Shah geography and history. It bespeaks Polak’s integrity that he never attempted to use this position for personal gain, nor was he ever accused of joining any political faction.

In 1855 it became known in Vienna that Polak had been promoted by the Persian court to the official position of Hakimbashi, personal royal physician. He had to attend the court daily and travel with the shah/king on his frequent travels within the country. This intensive doctor patient relationship created a bond of trust that proved useful after he returned to Austria.
In 1860, Polak (1865, I, p. 316) left Iran after nine years, in his own words, without hate or love (“sine odio et amore”). The summary of his last conversation with the Shah on 25 April 1860 (Polak, 1865, I, pp. 316-18) shows concern for his professional future, as well as disenchantment with his employer, notwithstanding that he had received the Star of the Lion and the Sun, second rank.

After an extended stay in Egypt and France Polak returned to Vienna in 1860. He practiced medicine, and in 1862 he was married to a young 21 year old woman Therese Blumberg, a factory owner's daughter from Teplice (marriage contract, personal archives of Yakov Polak ARC 4° 1597, Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, Israel). She was known as "Mimmy" in the family. They married in Teplice her birthplace in western Bohemia and it is recorded in HBMa 2089 in the National Archives.

Polak worked again at the General Hospital, and later at a sanatorium in the health resort Bad Ischl in Upper Austria. But he also taught Persian at the University of Vienna, served as advisor to the Foreign Ministry, and was involved in academic and cultural projects. In 1882, he returned briefly to Iran on a research mission during which he also met with Nāṣer-al-Din. The Shah in turn met with Polak during his journeys to Europe. 

The Habsburg government recognized Polak’s services by appointing him “Ritter des Franz-Joseph Ordens” and by awarding him the “Medaille für Wissenschaft und Kunst,” while the Geographical Society (K.K. Geographische Gesellschaft) made him an honorary member. Polak died in 1891 of dry gangrene (Altersbrand), leaving behind his wife Therese. His grave in the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna is in the Gate 1 section, group 19, row 57 and number 45.The first stone was damaged during the war and now lies in the collection of the Museum of ethnography in Vienna.

The introduction of western medicine to Qajar Persia. The first curriculum of the Dār al-fonun was geared toward military training, and western medicine was included because the health care (see BEHDĀRI) of soldiers was recognized as a crucial aspect of modern warfare. On-site surgery can prevent that soldiers die of minor wounds on the battlefield, and systematic hygiene and quarantine can avert outbreaks of cholera in the barracks (Afkhami, p. 123). Polak’s principal task was the training of a new type of army physicians without antagonizing the established health care professionals. The official state gazette Waqāyeʿ-ye ettefāqiya closely monitored Polak’s work and the progress of the medical students.

In Iran, Polak (1865, I, p. 306; II, pp. 318, 320) was the first to regularly operate on unconscious patients, and he himself counts a total of 158 bladder stone operations. A detailed report in Waqāyeʿ-ye ettefāqiya (no. 99, 12 Rabiʿ I 1269 [24 December 1852]) was later summarized by Moḥammad Ḥasan Khan Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana (1843-96): “The removal of bladder stones became widespread through the teaching and care of Doctor Polak, and in one year he alone removed 23 stones, while only one patient died and the rest returned to good health” (1988, p. 1749).

Polak (1865, I, p. 313) is also known as the first physician to have performed a dissection in Iran because in 1854 he did the post-mortem autopsy of his Austrian colleague Zatti to determine the reason of his death. Dissection was considered taboo, and students were reluctant to study human anatomy (see EBN ELYĀS). Yet Polak (1865, I, p. 306) refused to perform dissection for teaching purposes on executed members of the Babi movement, since he objected to being used as a government tool of defilement and feared reprisals.

It is disputed as to whether Polak (1865, I, pp. 307-313) can be credited with the construction of the first western hospital (see BIMĀRESTĀN) in Iran. He writes in detail about his unsuccessful attempt to build a military hospital outside Tehran in 1854. But the Mariżḵāna-ye dowlati, which is mentioned in several other sources, was already established before his arrival (Ebrahimnejad, 2004, pp. 58-59; Mahdavi, p. 174).

Polak created the modern Persian medical terminology (Schlimmer, p. 4). A complete bibliography of his medical writings in Persian has yet to be compiled (for preliminary lists, Azizi, p. 152; Hāšemiān, p. 17). Among his best-known medical works (Polak, 1865, I, p. 307) are the lithographed editions of his anatomy textbook (1854) and an introduction (1857) to surgery and ophthalmology (see ČAŠM-PEZEŠKI). Several manuscripts and imprints of the very influential 1852 cholera lectures, often cited as Bimāri-ye wabā (for the use of the term wabā, see INFLUENZA, EIr XIII/2, p. 141), are extant, but text and title vary, and the work awaits further investigation. Many texts that are today circulating under Polak’s name are in fact his students’ lecture notes. Polak was a popular lecturer with a wide audience, and one manuscript of his cholera lectures even found its way into the complete works of the Shaikhi scholar Moḥammad Karim Khan Kermāni (d. 1871/72). The creative contributions of his students should not be underestimated, as they testify to the active process of acquiring medical knowledge (Ebrahimnejad, 2004, p. 117).

At the Dār al-fonun Polak was assisted by several Iranian teachers, and traditional medicine (ṭebb-e qadim) was part of the curriculum (Ebrahimnejad, 2000, p. 176; Rustāi, I, pp. 111-12). It was of ultimate importance that Polak’s students continued his work. In 1856, Farruḵ Khan Amin-al-Dawla (d. 1917) accompanied the first three students, among them Mirzā Reżā b. Mirzā Moqim Mostawfi ʿAliābādi Māzandarāni (d. 1877), to Paris, where they obtained doctoral degrees in medicine (Polak, 1865, I, pp. 310-11). Mirzā Reżā defended in 1860 a dissertation about polyuria, and then returned to Iran to teach until his death at the Dār al-Fonun. In 1859, a second group accompanied the mission of Ḥasan ʿAli Khan Garrusi Amir Neẓām (1821-99). At the Dār al-fonun the Dutch physician Johann Louis Schlimmer (1819-81) was appointed to Polak’s position, while Joséph-Désiré Tholozan (1820-97) succeeded him as Nāser-al-Din’s personal physician.

Ethnography of Qajar Persia. Polak was in numerous ways a communicator of Iranian culture and civilization. He traveled widely in Iran, pursuing his scientific interests in geography, geology and botany. The lasting achievement of his nine-year residence is a report, which the subtitle classifies as ethnographic sketches. Polak thus distinguished his book from the bulk of European travel literature on Iran. Unfortunately, the title of the 1982 Persian translation—Safar-nāma-ye Polak—is misleading, and any researcher is advised to consult the German original, whose reprint is in press.

Polak wrote neither a travelogue nor an impartial academic description of Persia. Well-informed because of his access to various social groups and his excellent knowledge of Persian, Polak treats many topics, ranging from the characteristics of the Persian bath to the breeds of Iranian horses. The discussed issues include: food and cooking; clothing; sleep and sports; family life and sexuality; servants and slaves; education and culture; law and religion; cemeteries; Nowruz celebrations; Nāṣer-al-Din’s government and court; travel and infrastructure; public security; industry, commerce, and agriculture. Polak (1865, I, p.265) also documents expressions of the local dialect around Natanz, which the important Iranist E. G. Browne (1862-1926) would later mention in his memoir A Year amongst the Persians (p. 204). Polak (1865, II, pp. 192-348) devoted five chapters to exclusively medical topics. He describes the various health care professionals, their income, status and methods of treatment, as well as narcotics, poisons, and antidotes. He provides an encyclopedic list of common diseases, followed by a practical section on travel advice for foreigners, even including psychological problems of acculturation (Polak, 1865, II, pp. 349-60). Although he is not completely free from Orientalist misconceptions and remains strongly convinced of the overall superiority of the West, his detailed observations are extremely valuable. His medical practice allowed him to gain unique insights into Qajar society. For example, Polak (1865, I, p. 204) soberly notes the occurrence of a perineal tear in girls as resulting from marriage before puberty—nowadays this is considered child rape.

Austro-Iranian relations. After his return to Vienna Polak was soon recognized as an expert on Iran because of his various publications. Since the Persian government frequently turned to him as mediator and spokesman, the Austrian Foreign Ministry also began to recruit his help. The posthumously published phrase book plus grammar (FIGURE 3) shows his excellent grasp of the Persian language.

In 1882, Polak returned to Iran to explore with the help of Thomas Pichler (1824-1914) and Franz Wähner (1856-1932) the botany of the Alvand range (ALVAND KUH). During the short trip, he stayed in Tehran with his successor Dr. Tholozan, and the Shah was glad to receive him (Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana, 2000, p. 179). Otto Stapf (b. 1857) published the results of this expedition in 1885. In the same year, Polak helped to fund a geological research mission, whose samples of minerals and fossils were later donated to Vienna’s Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum; cf. Eiselt).

Polak played a leading role in the representation of Persia at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair (Slaby, pp. 112-13). In 1870, Nāṣer-al-Din received an official invitation for Iran’s participation, which he regarded as a unique opportunity for his first tour of Europe. Polak arranged a committee to organize the Persian contributions, and Austrian plans for a diplomatic mission in Tehran were revived. Polak supervised the collection of the exhibits, and his personal contacts ensured that the Persian pavilion was realized. He also wrote the exhibition catalogue (1873). In 1891, shortly before his death, Polak (“Farben”; cf. Slaby, pp. 215-16) was involved in the large exhibition of oriental rugs in Vienna. Polak represented both the Habsburg empire and Qajar Persia on international conferences about cholera. In 1866, he was the Austrian delegate to the Third International Sanitary Conference in Istanbul, but in 1874, when the Fourth International Sanitary Conference was convened in Vienna, he was the official Iranian representative. His representation of Iran’s position was crucial, since medical views on the potential carriers of the Asiatic cholera conflicted with trade interests. Polak voted against the view that animals could transmit the disease to men (Afkhami, p. 130).

Polak maintained relations with Nāṣer-al-Din after his departure from Iran. In the diary of his first European tour, Nāṣer-al-Din (1998, p. 292) revealed his affection, coupled with a certain nostalgia. In the summer of 1889, the two men met once more in Berlin, during the Shah’s third trip to Europe, when Polak served as counselor and translator to the Austrian Emperor (Nāṣer-al-Din, 1999, p. 230; Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana, 2000, p. 347).

In his book about Persia, Polak provides many details about the Jewish community, but the study does not contain any personal statements about his own Jewish identity. In the contemporary Persian sources, he is unanimously identified as a Jew and thus deliberately placed in the historical context of Jewish physicians in Iran. Polak was very concerned about the plight of the Iranian Jews, and contacted after his return to Vienna in the early 1860s the Alliance Israélite Universelle, which in 1898 established its first school in Tehran (Fischel, 1950, p. 128, no. 32; cf. Fischel, 2007). Jakob Eduard Polak navigated with great success between different cultures: he worked on the spread of modern medical knowledge in Iran, while the carefully balanced views of his publications contributed to a sympathetic understanding of Persian culture in western Europe.

See http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/polak-jakob-eduard for an extensive bibliography.

Footnote:His father Elias was a businessman from Gross Morzin (Morina in Cz today) and his grandfather Enoch was a businessman from Kozolup. His mother Sara was the daughter of Abraham Neumann a businessman from Gross Morzin ( Morina). Her mother was Rosalia Steinhart also from the same town. Morina is in the Beroun District 20 kms south of Prague. The castle of Karlstejyn is close by. The witnesses who are recorded at his birth are his grandfather Enoch POLLAK and grandmother Rosalia STEINHART.

Jakob Eduard Polak Born 1818 Groß-Morzin/Mořina, Bohemia Died 1891 (aged 73) Vienna Occupation Austrian physician Jakob Eduard Polak (12 November 1818 in Mořina; † 8 October 1891 in Vienna) was an Austrian physician, born to a Jewish family from Bohemia, who played an important role in introducing modern medicine in Iran.[1]

Contents [show] Life[edit] Polak studied Medicine in Prague and Vienna. He was one of the six Austrian teachers invited by Amir Kabir, the Persian chief minister, as the instructors of Dar ul-Fonun, the first modern higher education institution in Iran. By his own account, he entered Iran on 24 November 1851, before the inauguration of the Dar ul-Fonun.

From 1851 to 1860, he taught medicine at Dar ul-Fonun. In the beginning, he taught in French and used a translator. Soon, the incompetence of the translators motivated him to learn Persian. He learned Persian in six months, and then taught his course in Persian.[2]

In 1885, he funded Otto Stapf, a Viennese Botanist, to undertake a botanical expedition to South- and Western Persia.[3] This led to the discovery of numerous new species of plants.

From 1855 to 1860, he served as personal physician of Naser-al-din Shah. In this capacity he was succeeded by French physician Joseph Désiré Tholozan.

Works[edit] Polak published his Persian experiences in: "Persien, das Land und seine Bewohner; Ethnograpische Schilderungen" (Leipzig, Brockhaus 1865), which belongs to the outstanding ethnographic works about 19th-century Iran.[4]

His other works include:

Bimari i vaba (Tehran: Nast’aliq, 1269). “La médicine militaire en Perse. Par le docteur J. E. Polak, ancien médecin particulier du schah de Perse,” Revue scientifique et administrative des médecins des armées de terre et de mer 7, 1865 Topographische Bemerkungen zur Karte der Umgebung und zu dem Plane von Teheran. Mittheilungen der K.K. Geographischen Gesellschaft 20. Wien, L. C. Zamarski, k.k. Hof- Buchdruckereir und Hof-Lithographie 1877. Beitrag zu den agrarischen Verhältnissen in Persien. Mittheilungen der K.K. Geographischen Gesellschaft 6, 1863, 107-143. Farben der persischen Teppiche. In: Katalog der Ausstellung orientalischer Teppiche im K.K. Österreichischen Handelsmuseum, Vienna, 1891, 44-49. See also[edit] Dar ul-Funun Bibliography[edit] Afsaneh GÄCHTER: Briefe aus Persien. Jacob E. Polaks medizinische Berichte. With an English Summary and Translation of Polak’s „Letters from Persia“. New Academic Press, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-7003-1867-5. Christoph WERNER: Polak, Jakob Eduard In: Encyclopædia Iranica. 2009 Obituary: Richard von Drasche-Wartinberg: Dr. J. E. Polak. In: Neue Freie Presse, 14. October 1891, p. 22 (Online at ANNO). References[edit] Jump up ^ "POLAK, Jakob Eduard – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2014-12-26. Jump up ^ "Ekhtiar, Maryam, 1994, "The Dar al-Funun: Educational reform and cultural development in Qajar Iran", Ph.D Dissertation, New York University, USA." Jump up ^ Franz Speta 2000, Warum Otto STAPF (1857–1933) Wien verlassen hat. Phyton (Horn, Austria) 40/1, 89-113, http://www.landesmuseum.at/pdf_frei_remote/PHY_40_1_0089-0113.pdf Jump up ^ Polak, J.E. (1999). Persien: Das Land und Seine Bewohner. Ethnographische Schilderungen (pt. 2). Adegi Graphics LLC. ISBN 9780543970770. Retrieved 2014-12-26. External links[edit] Encyclopædia Iranica Website. Full-text access to the Encyclopædia as it currently exists. "POLAK, JAKOB EDUARD - JewishEncyclopedia.com". jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2014-12-26. Authority control WorldCat VIAF: 17969337 LCCN: nr90009384 ISNI: 0000 0001 0813 8619 GND: 116261706 SUDOC: 116842202 Categories: 1818 births1891 deathsAustrian physiciansQajar shahsUniversities in Iran

Marriage record: TEPLICE 2089 O 1860-1923 (12/346) His wife Therese was born in Teplice a spa town in western Bohemia. The birth is recorded in the National Archives collection of Jewish BDM books in Prague available online. See Czech national Archives website for link.

The wedding bann was published in March 1862 in the local Teplice Schoenau newspaper.

His original gravestone in Vienna had an epitaph of a verse by the 13th century Persian poet Saadi. The Museum of No Frontiers in Vienna ( formerly the ethnographic museum) website says " no Persian in Vienna neglected to pay his respects to the former Hakim Bashi (personal physician) of the Shah. An Iranian scholar replaced the original gravestone with a new one and the remains of the original found their way to the Museum. The collector was Mag. Dr Afsaneh Gaechter who made the donation in 2013. She has authored a book on Polak published in 2018. She writes that after his death in 1891 his wife Therese managed his scientific legacy and corresponded with leading figures in science and politics. She also shows how Polak contributed in the fields of geology, geography, ethnography, botany, zoology and palaentology in Persia.

A scientific paper on urology says a lot of Pollak's personal papers are collected in Israel in the Jewish National library in Jerusalem. Dr Lionel Kochan of Oxford sold the documents to the Jewish National Library in Jerusalem. The list of files includes a document from Tsar Alexander the Second conferring the Order of St Stanislaw Second. My Heritage says he was a doctor in Marienbad, a Czech spa town near the eastern border of Germany and Czechoslovakia. In Czech its known as Mariansky Lazne and is one of three famous spa towns Karlovy Vary and Frantiske Lazne.

The Neue Freie Presse a Jewish owned newpsaper in Vienna published an obituary by Professor Dr Drasche on 14 October 1891 on page 22. Earlier in the paper there is a note that Therese Polak his widow gave 300 florins to the poor of Vienna as requested in his will. Dr Drasche says that in March Polak had a brain embolism from which he was unable to recover.

He writes that Polak wrote text books in French, Persian, Arabic and Latin on anatomy and Physiology and he wrote a medical dictionary to familiarise the Persian doctors with the correct terminology.

Dr Afsaneh Gaechter published a book "Der Leibartzt des Schah. Jacob E. Polak 1818-1891. Eine west-oestliche Lebensgeschichte. New Academic press. 2018. In it is his will where he leaves money to his older brother Hermann, his younger sister Rosalia Goetzl, his other younger sister Charlotte Bloch as well as some of their children, He also left money to the poor people in the town of Morina his birthplace and for the upkeep of the Jewish cemetery there. He says his parents Elias (Elijah) and Sara are buried there but I have not found the stones if they exist.

According to Dr Gaechter's book Polak spoke Persian, Yiddish, French, English and Hebrew as well as German.

His grave may be found at Gate 1 on Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 246- Section 19 row 57 plot number 45.
Dr Gaechter writes that he donated specimens to the National Museum in Prague as well as to the natural History Museum in Vienna.

The photo on the cover of Dr Gaechter's book: Jacob Eduard Polak with the Star of the Lion and the Sun, photograph by Viennese photographer Julie Haftner (active 1857–1867), Vienna, between 1860 and 1867. Pf 28.165 B (1), Picture Archives and Graphics Department, Austrian National Library. http://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Preview/9333858.jpg.