Varga Benedek szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 141-144. (Budapest, 1993)
Búcsúzunk Antall Józseftől
pharmaceutical museology, that formed significant chapters of his life-work, and gave topics for his papers and books. In 1981 Antall published a summary in the Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly), entitled "On the situation of medical history in Hugnary", which was about the circumstances of this field from many aspects. He emphasized, that Hungarian medical society supported but the organization of mere basis institutes, and rejected the incorporation of medical history into the curriculum of the university. Moreover, medical students were not required to write theses since the middle of the 19th century, as a result of the purely clinical approach of those times. The Institute of Historical Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) does not regard medical history as a research subject either. The Science and Technical Historical Committee of the MTA supported mainly scientists who investigate science itself or technological disciplines. Medical history became a compulsory subject at university when Emil Schultheisz, a former medical historian then Minister of Health passed a decree in 1985. "All in all —wrote Antall— the whole Hungarian scientific and intellectual world ought to feel the importance of the historical approach in shaping our common mind, in creative scientific thought. No matter that Hungarian academic life has been lead by active and noted figures of science history even of medical history, ifit [medical history itself] can not meet the need of medical profession as well. " Antal cited Ágost Trefort's (Trefort was Minister of Education between 1872-1888) claims about the dangers of both over specizialization and scrappy education of professionals and then continued: ' 'Synthesis and theoretical approach are indispensable at least in the genesis of scientific progress. It is a fact, which has not usually been realized by narrow-minded pragmatism, that can not feel the broader perspectives in respect of inspiring factors. ' ' Remarks by physicians (OH July 14. 1981) for Antall's judgement agreed with his points and emphasized the importance of good standards of medical historical papers. It was necessity and the sole intellectual possibility that introduced him and a few of us, who originally had wanted to become historians, art-historians, archeologists, or literary-historians, to medical, and cultural history. This ought to be emphasized because we started it in the 1960s and 70s, when there was not even a department of cultural history at any university in Hungary and only a few historians were involved in this discipline at all. It did not happened by accident either that one of the important sources, used later by Professor Domokos Kosáry (now president of the Academy of Sciences), in his excellent work about 18th century Hungarian cultural history was the publications of the Communicationes. This was understandable, because those who read history at university could not deal with subjects related directly to medical history. The task undertaken by these art-graduates around Antall was difficult: they decided to study medical history which had been out of university education in Hungary. His editorial work was characterized by actuality and organization skills. The main fields of the Communicationes have been: Semmelweis's life and work, the history of medical faculty, museum guides, international congresses, anniversaries and special volumes (pharmaceutical history, folk-medicine, medical historical textbook etc.). An outstanding source is the volume about Semmelweis's discovery and on the pathography of his illness. Another important book was the volume on the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the medical faculty at Nagyszombat. In 1983 together with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences a congress was organized for the five hundred years anniversary of Luther's birth. Next year the papers given at the Zsámboky anniversary were published together with a facsimile edition of Zsámboky's famous Icones. Lastly, we mention the volumes that came out for the International Medical Historical Congresses (Bucharest, Suppl. 4/1970; London Suppl. 6/1972). Certainly, the papers of the congress held in Budapest appeared also, apparently, in a two volume book in 1976. Antall was especially interested in Semmelweis himself, in the enigma, and tragedy of his life
