Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 186-187. (Budapest, 2004)
KÖZLEMÉNYEK — COMMUNICATIONS - KOTOK, Alexander: Homeopathy in Bulgaria: from revolutionaries to professionals. - Homeopátia Bulgáriában: a forradalmároktól a szakemberekig
HOMEOPATHY IN BULGARIA: FROM REVOLUTIONARIES TO PROFESSIONALS ALEXANDER KOTOK The so-called Second Bulgarian kingdom had been gradually conquered by the Ottoman Empire through the 14 th century and by the end of the century lost it independence completely. Since then and until 1877, that is to say through almost 500 years, when Russian corps entered Bulgaria, the country had been under Ottomans and considered to be a province of the Ottoman Empire. By achieving its independence in 1878, Bulgaria was mainly an agricultural country with almost 80% of the highly scattered rural population. Consequently, the chief kind of medicine practiced that time was rural medicine of domestic healers, sorcerers, old women, etc. Some monasteries also provided medical help to the poor sick. Of course, mainly it was rather simple care or nursing than real treatment. In the case of surgical emergency the local population turned to Turkish military hospitals. It should be noted that those civil doctors who practiced nevertheless medicine in Bulgaria, pretty often were foreigners of the Orthodox origin - Greeks (especially in the Black Sea coastwise cities, like Varna and Burgas), Serbians and Rumanians, i.e. physicians from the countries where homeopathy never had strong background. By 1878, by origin Bulgarian doctors represented minority of all physicians. The first Bulgarian doctor, Dr. Marko Pavlov, was a graduate of Montpellier of 1808, while the 4 th doctor of Bulgarian origin was a graduate of Munich of 1831. It was the real speed with which native Bulgarian doctors were appearing on the scene during the 19 th century, when the country remained under the Ottomans' domination. In fact, one can assert that on the example of Bulgaria we can see the picture of a 19 lh century country with especially belated political and social development, even when compared with poorly developed other East-European countries. It should not be a wonder that before the liberation of the country one couldn't find even one single mention of homeopathy on the Bulgarian soil. In 1877, Russian corps entered Bulgaria, as it was claimed, to set free a sister Orthodox nation. It was the second attempt of the Russian Empire to put an end to the Turkish dominion over the Balkans. The first one had been undertaken in 1828, when Turkish army was completely defeated yet, the international pressure did not allow the Russian Empire to reap the fruits of its victory. The war between Russians and Ottomans in 1877-78, ended by signing the San-Stefan pact in 1878, marked the initial and most important step for the beginning of a sovereign life of the country. It was also the beginning of the establishment of the proper Bulgarian medical system where homeopathy could find its place. Dr. Georgy Vylkov Mirkovich who is considered to be the first Bulgarian homeopath, has mainly been known in Bulgaria for his involvement in other activities which had nothing to do
