Abstract
At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries we can see many changes in the society as a result of the Enlightenment reforms. Science and especially medicine began to establish or rather petrify new relationships between the state, universities, experts, people and public.
In my contribution I will focus on the new field of medical knowledge that arose in the second half of the 18th century and was established by the state and medical faculties in the Habsburg monarchy in the first half of the following century – the so called state medicine – Staatsarzneikunde.
On the example of Joseph Bernt, professor of Staatsrzneikunde at the university in Prague and then in Vienna, I would like to show how the new requirements for control of health and death of people were integrated and applied in the teachings of new physicians and also I will focus on how this acquired knowledge was used in practice. Emphasis will be placed on the problem of examination of dead bodies, the beginning of forensic medicine based on the knowledge of pathological anatomy, thus medicalisation of death. I would also like to show how these changes have been reflected in thinking about mental health and the free will of the individual.