Palla Ákos szerk.: Az Országos Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közleményei 23. (Budapest, 1962)
Dr. Incze Gábor: Útmutató a Herbárium használatához
Summary ön the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its existence the Library of the Medical History publishes, in the original ortography, the „Herbarium. .." of the preacher of Debrecen, Péter Juhász Melius, the first botanical and phytotherapical work in Hungarian, which appeared in the year 1574. The text of the book is proceeded by studies which are summarized as may be read below. Imre Bán: Péter Juhász Melius. Author deals first with the contemporary picture of Debrecen, the life, activity and church-historical role of Melius, then with his social opinions, his personality, his literary style and finally, with the genesis of the Herbarium, its explication, its terminology and the Hungarian habitat. This is followed by an explanation of Melius' description of medicinal herbs, of old Hungarian denominations of illnesses, and methods of procedure in treatments. Author also relates the original manner adopted by Melius to commend his medicaments which was alternately funny or rough but always adapted to the realities of life. He often attacks superstition and witchery, thus showing the mentality of a humanist. Melius was a champion of progress which fact is duly emphasized in the study, one of its outstanding merits being further the attitude and criticism of the author, based on marxist principles. János Halmai: Data on the medico-botanical appreciation of the Herbarium. Based on the official Hungarian, and on foreign literature on mass-theraphy, author gives us data about 380 identified herbs out of the total of roughly 600 listed in the Herbarium. For comparison, he publishes the medicines of vegetal origin contained in the work of Ferenc Páriz of Pápa, court physician to the Prince of Transylvania, entitled Pax corporis, which appeared in 1690. Author states that out of the identified species of plants enumerated in the Herbarium, 99% are to be found in the literary sources, 15% in the official Hungarian pharmacopoeia and the Formulae Normales; 72,6% are medicinal herbs which grow in our country and are in use even to-day. This the Herbarium reflects the medical science of its time which was on the level of its epoch; both the materia medica and the treatment were progressive. Miksa Natter-Nád: The plants contained in the Herbarium. Author discusses the herbaria of his time, gives a short survey of the works of Brunfels, Bock, Fuchs and Lonicerus, sketches the circumstances of the Herbarium's publication and some of its contents, and finally compares it to the herbal of Lonicerus.
