Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 174-177. (Budapest, 2001)

KÖZLEMÉNYEK — COMMUNICATIONS - Tricot, Jean-Paul: The memory of today in the history of medicne. — (A ma emlékezete az orvostörténelemben.)

Tricot, J-P. : The Memory of Today 85 became more comprehensible and less obscure. It became possible to check good medical practice according to the specific epoch by referring to some authoritative books and so a new medical professionalism could develop. Plenty of medical journals appeared during the last two centuries. Until very recent times it was a deontological duty for each physician to read some of them regularly to keep themselves well informed on current diagnostic and therapeutic progress. Thus, by reading books and journals of the last two centuries, we can discern different consecutive emphases in the development of medicine : In the XlXth we see the appearance of institutional care for the destitute and the protection of public health, the sponsorship by different states of medico-scientific, mostly laboratory investigations, and the promotion of medical science with a profound reform of medical education. In the last years of the nineteenth century and the first of the twentieth, medical knowledge, practice and policy were radically transformed. Medicine as a new science became powerfully interconnected during this period and many invoke a certain "golden age of medicine", associated with the conquest of epidemic infectious diseases by the so called microbe-hunters, who discovered the sulfanilamides, penicillin, and streptomycin. Effective vaccines were developed. Life expectancy rose rapidly. There was a shift from philanthropic to governmental funding of health care. Different new challenges appeared at the end of the XXth century: the resistance of micro-organisms to antibiotics, the spreading of chronic diseases, and the appearing of new diseases like AIDS, brought a new impersonal doctor-patient relationship, the high costs of modern medical care, the proliferation of different medical professionals, and the lack of care and cure in the 3rd world. Until now we have been able in the last centuries to practise the history of medicine, founded upon data we find in books and journals and we became accustomed to use primary as well as secondary reference sources in them. We are aware new issues will be debated in medicine in this XXIst new century: genetics, new reproductive technologies, ethics and last but not least informatics. Owing to the fact that the content of most medical books is already obsolete when published, due to the rapid progress of science, and owing to the fact that the most important medical journals may be consulted on-line, we have to fear that after half a millenium of existence, the "printed word" will disappear in a more or less near future and that the electronic information will replace the written one. Computers, CD-roms, internet and the worldwide web are replacing the classic libraries. Are we sure that all this information will be available for our descendents in a few centuries ? We have now the problem of "acid paper" in our recent books. Is a similar problem with digital data not to be considered ? I think the problem is worth debating. First we have to extend the spectrum of the history of medicine. Different persons are concerned depending on the aspect on study: medical (from the physician's point of view or from the patient's point of view), paramedical, cultural, social, economical, financial, political, historical and world-wide approaches are possible. Medicine has to be considered in the broad sense of the World Health Organisation definition: the recuperation of a feeling of well being in a physical, psychological and social field, thanks to preventive as well as therapeutic measures.