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

with homeopathy. He was born in the city of Sliven in Bulgaria in 1827 or 1828 (Mirkovich himself was not sure about the exact date) and studied there in a Greek school until 1846, when he left Bulgaria for abroad. First he turned to the Kiev seminary and studied there for several months due to a special scholarship set by the Russian authorities for Bulgarians, but soon became disappointed in the way the seminary was managed and left Kiev for Constantinople. In Constantinople he got bad news about his father death, then he came back to Sliven, received there his part of the legacy and got over to a catholic school in Bebeck. In 1851, he entered the medical faculty at the Montpellier University. That time a very interesting story happened to him. He attended a spiritistic show, which proved to be very impressive for him, and decided to turn to the clairvoyant to check why for a long time he had not received money from his senior brother living in Bulgaria. His brother was a merchant and thus provided Georgy Mirkovich with money to pay for the University and habitation. In fact, because of the tremendous lack of money Mirkovich for the most part studied at the University library in order on the one hand to get there free paper and on the other hand not to pay for heating the room he rented together with another poor student. Moreover, through his first university year he was able to only attend lectures for he had no means to become a fullright student. He was repeatedly advised by his relatives to leave Montpellier for Pisa in Italy where medical education was cheaper, but he refused to follow this advice and insisted to stay in Montpellier. So, the problem of the lack of money in time was fairly painful for him. The clairvoyant (she was a woman) said him that very soon he would receive a letter, whilst the money would come later. Indeed, very soon he got both a letter from his brother and notification of money transfer but for some technical problem the money were paid him much later. These astonishing events predetermined his life-long passion for spiritism in part and occult knowledge in general. Gradually his brother's financial position improved, and Mirkovich completed his studies at the University without serious financial problems. In 1856, he presented his dissertation „Du regime en general a l

'etat hygicie et morbide" and received MD degree. In the same year he fought with the epidemic of cholera and was awarded golden medal by Napoleon III. Mirkovich returned from France to Sliven and practiced there in 1857-1858. In Sliven began the next period of his life as a politician. That time Bulgaria struggled not only with Turkey by means of badly organized sporadic revolts, but also with Greece which dominated by Turkish approval in the church and cultural life. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church had no political independence but was viewed as a part of the Greek patriarchite and this foreign church impact was a serious obstacle in the way of the development of Bulgarian institutions and self-consciousness. Mirkovich joined the Uniate Church and for a long time remained an active member of the movement for the independence of the Bulgarian Church. The church independence was achieved later, as far back as Bulgaria reached its political independence. In 1858-59 Mirkovich practiced in the city of Stara Zagora, then he lived some period of time in Constantinople, then he moved to Bolgrad in Bessarabia where he tried himself in the capacity of both doctor and the principal of a high school. In 1864, we find him in the Bessarabian city of Braila where he joined the Revolutionary Committee, which prepared revolt. In 1870, he was put in jail in Medeterhan by Turkish authorities and spent there more than 5 years. It is not known how his conversions to homeopathy occurred, whether it happened during his studies in the University or later on, yet it is known that after liberation of Bulgaria he practiced homeopathy exclusively. Nevertheless, medicine was not his major business. By his innate qualities Mirkovich was a