Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 57-59. (Budapest, 1971)

TANULMÁNYOK - Antall József: A pesti orvosi iskola kialakulása és a centralisták egészségügyi politikája (angol nyelven)

resting to note that on the basis of population changes Trefort made some guesses on the probable historical role and political influence of some countries in the 20th century. For 1932 he predicted the following order of the great powers : United States, Russia, German Empire, while the role of Britain would gradually decrease and France would fall behind, as compared to the 19th century.)

31 Speaking about the effect which the circle of Eötvös and the medical school of Pest mutually exercised on each other, we must not leave out the question of homoeopathy.

32 Széchenyi, Kossuth, the poet Mihály Vörösmarty, and many other great figures of public life became the supporters of the new school. Ferenc Deák, "the wise man of Hungary" was already more cautious: he had two doctors, the homoeopath Döme Argenti and the "allopath" Endre KovácsSebestyén. But Eötvös and his group unequivocally kept themselves aloof from homoeopathy. It is worth while quoting the words of Eötvös said in 1870 as Minister of Public Education in the parliamentary debate on the establishment of a chair and a hospital for homoeopathy, when he was unable to prevent the majority from endorsing the motion: "Science creates and produces itself without the help of the legislation and even against it. Like the correctness of the circulation of the blood, in fact any great discovery made by the scientists of any age was not assisted by any legislation, anywhere, so if homoeopathy really needs support to have a future, I don't predict a long future. Because science is such a power which not only does not need patronage, but can even well endure persecution. I am at least convinced that there has been no scientific truth pronounced—even if strongly persecuted—just because it was persecuted; or that it would have been accepted only a year later fot that reason.'*

33 Summarizing what we have said: the middle of the 19th century—in spite of erroneous, conservative and one-sided tendencies—is of very great importance in the development of Hungarian medicine. The results of development achieved in Hungary, the achievements of contemporary medical science, the recognition of the importance of causality, the spread of prevention in medical thinking, and the great leap of the natural sciences provided those factors in science history, which—in synthesis with the general historical factors of bourgeois transformation and national independence—made the emergence of the independent medical school of Pest possible

34

. Their connec31 Trefort op. cit. 51 — 52. (1882. aug.) 32 Antall J. : A homeopátia tegnap és ma. = Természettudományi Közlöny, 1964.11. Antall, J. : Homoeopathy and Medical Education in Hungary. = Comm. Hist. Artis Med. 51—53. (1969). 99 — 114. 33 Eötvös J. : A homoeopathiai tanszék és kóroda fölállítása kérdésében. Két beszéd a főrendiházban. 1870. május 9-én. = Beszédek III. köt. 394 — 395. (Öszszes művei X.) — Another speech of Eötvös concerning healt affairs is his answer to the question of Jókai "On the Institute of the Blind of Pest". Eötvös op. cit. 277 — 279. 34 Réti E. : Nagy magyar orvosok, 2. Budapest, 1959. 85 — 220. — Az orvostudomány magyar mesterei. Budapest, 1924.