Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 51-53. (Budapest, 1969)

TANULMÁNYOK - Antall József: A modern felsőoktatási rendszer kialakulása Magyarországon (1848—1890) (angol nyelven)

medical care for the students. In fact the regulation is a code of higher education in the Hungary of civil transformation and growing independence; here one can find the origin of everything which was good in the later reforms. The carrying out of practical measures, the appointment of new teachers, especially on the established arts faculty, had no less importance. But the integration of the lower grade surgical course into the medical course and the raising of the standard of pharmaceutical training was of no smaller significance either. One of the last measures of Eötvös was to declare the Selmecbánya Academy a national institution (formerly it had an all-monarchical character) and to raise the question of the Viennese Theresianum, an elite-institute forming the object of an old national complaint. The budget for the year 1849 was prepared and was submitted to Parliament by the minister of finance, Lajos Kossuth. The bill, a concomitant of parliamentarian government, was the first budget in the proper sense in Hungarian financial history. It dealt with the proposed expenditures in higher education and education in general, the income of foundations, etc., so it is a good source on the educational program of the government for the year 1849. Unfortunately we cannot describe in details the other cultural plans, the proposals and measures concerning the museums, archives and libraries, the superb programme of saving the treasures of the nation, which were all closely connected with higher education. With the outbreak of the fighting all plans came to an end. Due to the seriousness of the military situation the students took up arms, in many cases inspired or even lead by the teachers. The students of Mosonmagyaróvár sent their greetings to the revolutionary youth of Vienna and expressed their sympathy with the Academic Legion set up in the Kaiser stadt. All higher educational institutions—with the exception of the Selmecbánya Academy

—closed their gates. The Pest university only ran some special courses connected with the war, the university itself and most other schools were transformed into hospitals. The teaching staff, including Balassa, Lajos Markusovszky and Sándor Lumniczer, was engaged in the treatment of the wounded and the latters eventaully enlisted in field service. Following the withdrawal of Eötvös, when all administration was carried on by the Committe for National Defence (OHB), the ministry was run by State Secretary Károly Szász, the in May, 1849 Mihály Horváth became Minister of Public Education in the government of Szemére. Their activities were confined to grant aid, make organizational projects, and—after the fall of the capital—to move or even to flee. The outbreak of armed fighting, the life-and-death struggle of the nation put an end to the independent history of higher education. It was not without reason that Petó'fi said during the discussion of the bill on elementary education: "You may just as soon leave education aside when we don't even know whether there will be anybody left to be educated". The fight was defeated, the dreams melted away, the projects were put in the bottom of the archives. The cause of Hungarian education again fell into foreign hands, but two decades later, after the compromise with Austria, the reforms—although through compromises, "watered down" on such a basis, could start on these foundations, using these ideas. It was not irrelevant for