Vincenc Julius Krombholz was a botany enthusiast from his childhood; but he also loved music and drawing which was later reflected in his natural history illustrations. During his medical studies in Prague, Krombholz initially devoted himself to surgery, which followed him throughout his life, but in Vienna he also studied ophthalmology under Professor Beer, then obstetrics in Prague, and finally the longed-for internal medicine. Krombholz also gained valuable medical experience during his stays in German medical and surgical institutes between 1809 and 1811 and soon gained a reputation as one of the best doctors in Prague thanks to his expertise and selflessness (he often worked for free). Krombholz held important leadership positions at the Faculty of Medicine of Charles-Ferdinand University and became a popular university lecturer who established a foundation to support poor students. In 1831 he was elected rector of the Karl-Ferdinand University and after the outbreak of cholera in the same year he was elected director of all cholera hospitals.
In his medical practice, Krombholz encountered many cases of mushroom poisoning, so he decided to publish a paper that would help people to safely distinguish between edible and poisonous mushroom species. Interestingly, Krombholz tested the edibility of mushrooms not only on himself, but also on other volunteers or animals. He set up a vivarium in Prague for mycotoxicological experiments and tested mushrooms on cats, dogs, rabbits, pigeons, songbirds, but also on reptiles and fish. His atlas of macromycetes from 1831-1846 Naturgetreue Abbildungen und Beschreibungen der eßbaren, schädlichen und verdächtigen Schwämme (Faithful Depictions and Descriptions of Edible, Harmful and Suspicious Mushrooms) is of fundamental importance for the history of mycology. It includes 76 hand-coloured lithographic plates, published under the title Tafeln zu dem mykologischen Werke von Krombholz (Plates to Accompany Krombholz`s Mycological Work). These plates show the microscopic perspective of several hundred fungal fruiting bodies (sporocarps) described by Krombholz in his atlas. Krombholz`s close collaborator in the field of mycology was primarily the pharmacist and botanist August Josef Carl Corda, but also, for example, Adolf Martin Pleischl, professor of chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine. Vincenc Julius Krombholz was knighted for his achievements. He died on 2 November 1843 and is buried in the Olšany Cemetery in Prague.
A memorial plaque to Vincenc Julius Krombholz was placed on his birthplace in Horní Police (Ober Politz in German) on the initiative of the village in 1882. In 1945, however, it was covered with a Czech plaque emphasizing the fact that the school building on which it was attached was once again serving the Czechoslovak children. It was only in 2011 that the original Krombholz plaque saw the light of day again on the initiative of the former mayor and local patriot Lubomír Marie Šulc. After its restoration by Mrs. Hana Roušarová-Berková, the plaque commemorating this important scholar was unveiled on 22 June 2011.
Gurlt, E.: Krombholz, Vincenz Julius Edler von. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, sv. 17, 1883, s. 184–188.
Janko, J.: Vědy o životě v českých zemích 1750–1950. Praha 1997.
Janko, J.; Štrbáňová, S.: Věda Purkyňovy doby. Praha 1988.
Šebek, S.: Život a dílo zakladatele české mykologie V. J Krombholze (K 200. výročí narození). In: Česká mykologie, roč. 36, č. 4, 1982, s. 193–205.
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