Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 60-61. (Budapest, 1971)

TANULMÁNYOK - Szőkefalvi-Nagy Zoltán -Spielmann József: Nyulas Ferenc életére és működésére vonatkozó újabb adatok

sylvania and in the State Archives at Marosvásárhely (today Tîrgu-Mures, Rumania) have considerably widened our knowledge on the life and activities of Nyulas, It had been known that he had started his university studies in Vienna and concluded them in Pest. The new archival material has revealed that during his studies in Vienna he was helped by the Goldberg foundation, and that in 1783 his interest in chemistry induced the medical student to attend the lectures of Miklós Jacquin (1727-1817). In Pest he visited the lectures of Jakab Winterl (1735-1809) on chemistry and botanies, too. Returning to Transylvania Nyulas settled at Szamosújvár where besides his private practice he looked after the prisoners of the Szamosújvár gaol free of charge. On 18th November 1791 the Estates of the neighbouring county of Doboka elected him official physician. He did not hold this post long, as he was not ready to give up his home at Szamosújvár and move to the territory of the county as requested by authorities, so his office came to an end on 1st September 1793. He resumed his private practice at Szamosújvár. In 1795 he took his part in fighting the plague-epidemic spreading over fifty villages, and also notified the Gubernium of the scorbutic cases striking mostly the Rumanian peasants. In order to bring the latter disease under control he suggests among others the substantial consumption of fresh, wildly growing, non-poisonous plants and vegetables, just like József Osztrovits, a chirurgeon at Torda. On the basis of their proposals the medical committee of the Gubernium issued a printed circular letter relating to scorbutus in 1795, which recommended the consumption of many garden and wildly growing plants-containing vitamin C, to use a modern term. A similar way for the prevention of scorbutus was recommended in Europe previous to Nyulas by James Lind (in 1553) and his followers, Blanne and Trolle. A work by /. G. Krammer (Dissertatio de scorbuti militari) appeared in 1731 in Vienna, which mentioned that during the war scorbutus occured among the rank and file, while the officers, who consumed much vegetable, remained healthy. Presumably Nyulas and Osztrovits knew the work of Krammer, but their sensible recommendations have a pioneering character in Hungary. During his years at Szamosújvár Nyulas spent ten years with collecting the material for his famous chemical-balneological work, which appeared in 1800 in Kolozsvár under the title "On the analysis of the medicinal waters of Transylvania" in three volumes. In 1793 and 1797 he applied for the chair of chemistry at the chemical metallurgical school of Kolozsvár, but without success. In 1800 the noted physician moved to Kolozsvár. He was among the first in Transylvania (in 1801) who became the advocat of Jenner's smallpox vaccination. On his experiences he privately printed a work "Smallpox on cows in Kolozsvár" Ín 1802. In 1804 he was elected chief medical officer in the county of Kolozs. At that time an "Agricultural labourers' chancellary" was set up, of which we know no further details. In Kolozsvár he completed the analysis of the medicinal water of Jegenye. The Gubernium published his popularizing writing on the toxic •effects of Lolium temulentum. At Kolozsmonostor he founded factory of sal