Ernest Herbert Jellinek

For generations of Edinburgh physicians, the answer to a complex neurological problem was to seek Ernest Herbert Jellinek’s opinion. The slightly alarming appearance of the black eye patch was allayed by his gentle and sympathetic approach to his patients and his efficient, detailed examination. We speculated about the eye patch but didn’t ask. On a social occasion, some years after first meeting him at the bedside of one of my patients, I learnt the story; the conversation had turned to the merits of the Isle of Man. Ernest interjected, “I was in prison there!”

Ernest was born in Vienna, the son of a distinguished medical professor who had risen from humble rural origins and was a colleague and acquaintance of Sigmund Freud. Brought up a Catholic, but with Jewish forebears, Ernest’s early education was a classical one, conducted by Benedictines at the Schottengymnasium. At the age of 12, he witnessed the gunfire associated with the killing of the prime minister and …