Eraclie Sterian | |
|---|---|
 Sterian in 1908 | |
| Born | November 23, 1872 |
| Died | 1948 (aged 75–76) |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | Brâncovenesc Hospital Bucharest Military Hospital Colțea Hospital Lariboisière Hospital |
Eraclie Sterian (also known as Eracle, Eracli or Iraclie Sterian; November 23, 1872 – 1948) was a Romanian physician, writer, and political activist, known for introducing sexology and sex education in his country. Trained as a pathologist, he established his reputation as a popularizer of conventional and alternative medicine (primarily hydrotherapy), putting out the influential magazine Medicul Poporului. His early work also dealt with life extension practices and warnings about the effects of pollution. Sterian was a marginal ally of the Symbolist movement, to which his uncle Mircea Demetriade belonged; he had a longstanding friendship with poets Alexandru and Pavel Macedonski. He was a publisher of textbooks and literary works, including Demetriade's "Ali's Dream", and author of dramas. His pro-natalist propaganda play, Tout pour l'enfant, performed at the Théâtre Antoine in 1913.
As a doctor and a social critic, Sterian held unconventional views on eugenics, social hygiene, and the social role of sexual experiences. These caused a lasting scandal for their challenging of ancestral taboos—although, overall, Sterian remained a conservative and an avowed Christian, who claimed to have found a cure for compulsive masturbation. His sex manuals, aimed at a young audience, enjoyed success nationwide, and went through several editions in the 1910s. In parallel, as a disciple of René Quinton, he circulated claims that tuberculosis and its various complications could be successfully treated with seawater. Sterian's interests diversified with time, and he produced essays challenging scientific orthodoxy on topics such as human evolution and Indo-European studies. Also an advocate of Romanian nationalism, he rallied with the Conservative Party, before defecting to the National Liberals in 1914.
A Colonel in the Romanian Land Forces, Sterian was also an expert of typhus, having taken part in the World War I campaign against epidemics, and managing to survive that disease. Immediately after the war, he reported success in his treatment of gonorrhea-based inflammation, especially conjunctivitis. Sterian's results in this field were supervised by Victor Morax during clinical trials at Lariboisière Hospital, where Sterian worked for some three years in the early 1920s. In old age, at the height of the Great Depression, he focused on defending his status as a property owner in Bucharest, founding an Association of Mortgaged Owners and Debtors. He followed Jean Th. Florescu's schism from the National Liberal Party, afterwards joining the nationwide League Against Usury. Upon the latter's disestablishment, Sterian joined a Guard for the Defense of Private Property, then a Taxpayers' Syndicate. He was survived by his son, the writer-politician Paul Sterian, and by his daughter-in-law, painter Margareta Sterian; his granddaughter was actress Raluca Sterian.