1768: Dr. Richard Meyer is born - a later host of Goethe
When people talk about Offenbach and Johann Wolfgang Goethe, they usually focus on the young Frankfurt native from 1775 and his relationship with Lili Schönemann. But even in his old age, he came back twice, now as the grand old man from Weimar. In 1814 in October and 1815 in August, he made his way to Offenbach's market square to talk to a citizen of the town. His destination was the Schwanen pharmacy, whose owner, Dr. Bernhard Meyer, had the fame of a scientist attached to him.
Meyer, born in Hanau in 1768, had set up as a doctor and dentist in Offenbach in 1797 and also opened a pharmacy. However, he attracted Goethe's interest as a natural scientist. He enjoyed a particularly high reputation as an ornithologist. A species of parrot discovered in East Africa was named "Psittacus Meyeri" in his honor.
Goethe noted the following about his first visit to Meyer: "In this well-built and increasingly cheerful place (Offenbach), the collection of stuffed birds belonging to Hofrat Meyer deserves everyone's attention." Goethe added that Meyer employed a number of renowned artists to illustrate the results of his research.
Meyer's collection must indeed have been remarkable. It forms the basis of today's ornithological department of the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt. In order to acquire it from Mayer, the museum spent the impressive sum of 5,000 guilders in 1819.
In a book published in 1879, local historian Emil Pirazzi calls Meyer's house on the market square "one of the most hospitable places in Offenbach at the time" with a "conviviality enlivened by wit and humor". One of the guests at the end of 1802 was the writer Johann Gottfried Seume, the author of the cultural-historical travel book "Spaziergang nach Syrakus" (Walk to Syracuse), who is still read today. Seume had actually walked from Saxony to Sicily and back in 16 months. Offenbach was on his way home from Italy, which led via Strasbourg, Mainz, Frankfurt and Fulda to Leipzig.
There is a story about the humor of the Schwanen pharmacist that was known in Offenbach for decades. It must have been in the period after the Napoleonic Wars when many people from Frankfurt came to the famous Offenbach costume balls in the Komödienhaus on Kirchgasse. The Frankfurters liked to come across the border because such entertainments were often forbidden at home.
At these balls, it was a popular custom to liven up the dancing with a kind of fair with stalls. There you could buy refreshments and have fun with all sorts of bric-a-brac. As the proceeds of such sales usually went to the poor, it was considered particularly fine among fine people to maintain such a stall.
That evening, Hofrat Meyer had also set up a table. He offered home-made sweets there. No one noticed that the learned confectionery merchant hurriedly disappeared after he had set down the last piece. He disappeared not a moment too soon. For anyone who tasted his stuff was soon struck with a bad case. Doctor Meyer had added a powerful laxative to the sugar stuff. And there was only one toilet in the comedy house.
No wonder the incident spoiled the ball. The scenes that unfolded around the Kirchgasse defy description. The victims, all from the so-called upper classes, were still angry for years. The laughter of those not affected is said to have been heard as far away as Fechenheim. But when he died in 1836, Doctor Meyer had long since become a respected man again.
Lothar R. Brown
