Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 66-68. (Budapest, 1973)
TANULMÁNYOK - Székely Sándor: Az 1876-os közegészségügyi törvény előkészítéséről (angol nyelven)
ON THE PREPARATION OF THE HUNGARIAN HEALTH ACT OF 1876* ntil Act XIV of 1870 "On the Improvement of Public Health" came into ^ force, the first comprehensive Hungarian sanitary law was the Generale Normativum de re Sanitatis promulgated in 1770 by Maria Theresa. The measure, drafted by Medical Officer Ferenc Skollanits applied to the entire Habsburg Monarchy. The law provided for the improvement of public health conditions, prescribed what was to be done in the case of contagious diseases and epidemics, made it the duty of County Physicians to supervise physicians, all healers, and the pharmacies, and at the same time to investigate quacks and to start proceedings against them. County medical officers had to report to the authorities the activities of itinerant healers, medicine vendors and other charlatans in their area. The law also specified certain rules of medical conduct, dealt with medical ethics. It declared that the work of physicians should not be guided by egocentric interests but by the requirements of their patients. The law regulated the qualifications for physicians, surgeons and midwives, and defined the scope of their duties. 1 The political and social developments at the time, however, did not promote the realization of the otherwise up-to-date measures contained in Generale Normativum de re Sanitatis. The feudal state apparatus did not see to the enforcement of the regulations. In the first half of the 19th century agricultural production was still largely by mediaeval means (the use of the wood plough still prevailed!); and bourgeois development, urbanization and industry were slow to advance. Many people were starving in Hungary despite the fact that this country was called the granary of the Monarchy. At the prosperous town of Pécs, South-West Hungary, there were 35.7 deaths per 1000 inhabitants, and in the County of Tolna, also a well-to-do district, 41,5 per cent even as late as 1846. At the same time the mortality rate was 30 at Pécs and 31 per thousand in the County of Tolna. 2 In years when the crop was scanty, the * This study has been undertaken in connection with the preparation of the new Hungarian Health Act, Law II of 1972. (The Ed.) 1 Sándor Székely: Az orvostudomány története (The History of Medical Science.) Budapest 1960. pp. 135-136. 2 Géza Hahn: A magyar egészségügy története (The History of Hungarian Public Health). Budapest 1960. p. 24. by SÁNDOR SZÉKELY
