Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 66-68. (Budapest, 1973)
TANULMÁNYOK - Székely Sándor: Az 1876-os közegészségügyi törvény előkészítéséről (angol nyelven)
prime-minister, did not treat the recommendation very seriously although he had promised that "the utilization of the good ideas to he found in the elaboration will not be omitted by the House of Commons in discussions either in its National Administration Committee or in the departments"'^ 1 Without a doubt the proposals submitted and discussed at the MOT meetings did exert some influence on the work of the National Public Health Council and the Ministry of the Interior—the "experts" as they were half-scornfully referred to at MOT meetings. This is evident, for instance, from the fact that whereas in the drafts made in 1873 and 1874 the structure of the public health service is given "from the top downward", in the final draft prepared in 1875 the order is reversed and the structure is given in accordance to the MOT proposal "democratically", starting "from below". This was, of course, merely a matter of form, but it was already a matter of content that the final draft prescribed the jurisdiction and tasks of the lower organs in greater detail than did the earlier drafts. And with this let us now proceed to the final Act XIV of 1876. ACT XIV OF 1876 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH In his work outlined above József Fodor mentioned the backwardness of Hungarian health legislation and the fact that even the existing few laws were not carried out. Kornél Chyzer collected the Hungarian health statutes and decrees passed between 1854 and 1894, including even articles where only some of the paragraphs refer to health or sanitation. According to his list, 33 prior to Act XIV of 1876 there was a decree: in 1862 on quackery, in 1854 and in 1876 on the allocation of nursing costs in the case of patients treated in hospitals and therapeutic institutions, in 1869 on instructions for prison physicians, in 1870 on the prevention of the spread of syphilis contained in a measure issued under the title "Medical Examination of Soldiers Sent Home on Leave", in 1871 on aid in case of accidents, in 1872 on lunatic asylums, in 1873 on pharmaceutics, in 1875 on the practice of midwifery, in 1875 and 1876 each a decree on medical practice, in 1876 on proceedings with corpses, on funerals and burial. Ever since its foundation, the National Public Health Council played an important part in the preparation of these regulations. We have reviewed the part played by the National Public Health Council in the framing of Act XIV of 1876. In 1874-75 the bill worked out at the end of 1873 was only "polished". 32 Ibid. p. 196. 33 Kornél Chyzer: Az egészségügyre vonatkozó törvények és rendeletek gyűjteménye (Collection of Laws and Decrees Applying to Health). 1854—1894. Budapest 1895.
