Palla Ákos szerk.: Az Országos Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közleményei 20. (Budapest, 1961)
Adattár - Orvostörténeti adatok a Vay család golopi levéltárából (dr. Bendefy László)
was injuricd >o badly that the had to leave the army and reÖred to his estate in Zsolca. He suffered, howewer, so much from his injury that he travelled to Germany, then to London and to Vienna to have himself treated by the most eminent oculists. He should have undergone an operation but could not bring himself to do it becsüse in those times the out come of such an operation was quite often lethal. In London he met a doctor called Henry who dabbled in ophthalmology and was, more or less, a charlatan. He also sold en eye-bslsam of his own make to his patients. Genreal Vay found a vay to acquire secretly, from one of Henry's assistants, the secret of the preparation of the balsam, had the booklet containing the directions for its use translated into Hungarian and, after having had it published in Vienna, distributed it freely to the poor cyepatients. 2. The General's injured eye got steadily worse. In 1796, in a letter to Prof. Richter from Göttingen, personally know to him he asks that gentleman to give him his opinion quite frankly, i. e. to tell him what to do about his bad eye and what would be the procedure in case of an operation. We report Prof. Richter's reply verbatim. The contents of the letter are explained by Prof. Dr. István Csapody, ophtalmologist, as follows. General Miklós I. Vay suffered from so-called Staphyloma, or as it was called formerly, Hernia tunicae schlerotica. His eyeball swelled to such an extent that eventually he could not even close his eye, causing him great suffering. Richter advised a total extirpation ,though such an operation, owing to a possible purulent infection and meningitis, or to tetanus-poisoning could have fatal results. The patient was doped during the operation but not wholly narcotized. Afterwards he had to lay flat on his back for 6 days with a heavy bandage on his eye and subsequently had to wear a bandage for anoLher 2-3 months. The operation was performed probably by Prof. Prochaska in Vienna, in 179c. 3. András Cházár, county recorder, when staying in Vienna in 1799, visited the institution for the deaf-mute. After returning home full of enthusiasm, he started a campaign among the nobility and the public institutions for the founding of a similar establishment. The 40.000 Rhenusu-florins needed were collected in no time and the first institution for deaf-mutes was inaugurated in Vác, in 1802. General Miklós I. Vay contributed 1 80 of all the expenses for this noble aim. 4. In 1831, the year of the great cholera-epidemic the General was ahead) dead. His son, Miklós II. Vay - later to become chancellor - was at that time high-sheriff of the county Borsod and got appointed by the king as
