1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lange, Ernst Philipp Karl

LANGE, ERNST PHILIPP KARL (1813–1899), German novelist, who wrote under the pseudonym Philipp Galen, was born at Potsdam on the 21st of December 1813. He studied medicine at Berlin (1835–1840), and on taking his degree, in 1840, entered the Prussian army as surgeon. In this capacity he saw service in the Schleswig-Holstein campaign of 1849. He settled at Bielefeld as medical practitioner and here issued his first novel, Der Inselkönig (1852, 3rd ed., 1858), which enjoyed considerable popularity. In Bielefeld he continued to work at his profession and to write, until his retirement, with the rank of Oberstabsarzt (surgeon-general) to Potsdam in 1878; there he died on the 20th of February 1899. Lange’s novels are distinguished by local colouring and pretty, though not powerful, descriptions of manners and customs. He particularly favoured scenes of English life, though he had never been in that country, and on the whole he succeeded well in his descriptions. Chief among his novels are, Der Irre von St James (1853, 5th ed., 1871), and Emery Glandon (3rd ed., Leip., 1865), while of those dealing with the Schleswig-Holstein campaign Andreas Burns (1856) and Die Tochter des Diplomaten (1865) commanded considerable attention.

His Gesammelte Schriften appeared in 36 vols. (1857–1866).