Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 89-91. (Budapest, 1980)
TANULMÁNYOK - Magyar, Imre: Belgyógyászati irányzatok Magyarországon a két világháború között (angol nyelven)
research had been discontinued due to external circumstances and primarily to financial or economic causes. Development of a number of new psychotechnical methods also aroused attention. As revealed by papers written in the 20s there was a positive and a negative trend in the gaining ground of psychology and philosophy. The positive trend was the pervasion of psychology in medical care. In an article published in 1925 [46] under the title "The General Practitioner and Psychology" E. Kluge stated that the psychopathological trend was becoming more and more evident in the examination and care of the patients. This paper reported first on the still timely appeal that physicians had better treat the patient and not the disease. Neovitalism or psychovitalism can, however, turn to a labyrinth of medical philosophization. It is worth dealing with the question of what induces a part of society to contemplate mysticism, under certain conditions, instead of accepting the exact science. Why does an overwhelming majority of people prefer to trust quackery to reliable medicine. Why are they attracted to vague slogans rather than to clear and comprehensible principles ? A certain mental confusion should by all means be present. The political misguiding of the masses in the interwar period, proclamation of false principles forcing life within the confines of these false principles and producing a mental chaos was giving rise to mysticism which showed an increasing tendency when political principles immersed in an open mysticism just before World War II. To put it frankly, in this respect, even physicians of a definitely right-wing political trend preserved a degree of common sense, at least up to the 30s. The frequently quoted words of T. Győry [45] have a sober resonance for us even today : ". . .only one thing should be minded. Not a single inch is to be budged from the territory indisputably conquered by exact medical science taking so much pains and so many sleepless nights. And this should be guarded all the more since under the influence of the psychovitalistic trend moving towards goals to be appreciated, a whole series of false doctrines were put forth, trumped up for satisfying the mental and intellectual needs of the masses, i. e. theosophy, R. Steiner' s antroposophy having gained sufficient ground, and other occult '•sciences', under different headings. I am convinced that first of all the zealous supporters of psychovitalism themselves will do their utmost to keep offshoots off from their work motivated by honest intentions. " One of these offshoots gaining more and more ground and being also accepted under the oppressive shadow of German power was homoeopathy. However, not all of its supporters were quacks. Homoeopathy though being based on dogmatic but theoretical principles was worth of the belief of those losing faith in true science. S. Korányi dealt several times with the question of homoeopathy and its spread in Hungary [47, 48] even at times when homoeopathy was considered the official science of the Third Reich. His open advocacy of true science against homoeopathy was regarded as a manifestly political deed. He treated the question objectively proving the unsoundness of the theory of homoeopaths, and contemplated the more profound aspects of its spread. He openly declared that homoeopaths had never contributed to the progress of science, they failed to accomplish any results and no name of homoeopaths had ever been preserved. The medical literature in Hungary had doubtlessly not besn capable of attaining a level —not even in the very last months of the interwar period —for papers written by homoeopaths to be allowed to be published by its editors. S. Korányi [32,49] argued several times against the possibility of a general principle (Heilprinzip) serving as a basis for curing all diseases. In 1933 he reported [49] on a
