Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 190-193. (Budapest, 2005)

KÖZLEMÉNYEK - COMMUNICATIONS - Paskalev, Dobrin - Kircheva, Anna B.: Bulgarian contributions to the development of medicine - Bolgár hozzájárulások az orvostudomány fejlődéséhez

information about the death of the Bulgarian tzar (6). Thus, the salt was used to preserve the corpse of tzar Kaloyan during the time of travel, which lasted from 6-8 days (minimum) to 12- 15 days (maximum) (7). The tomb of Tzar Kaloyan was discovered as late as 1972 in the old church of "The Forty Holy Martyrs" in the city of Turnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. About 60 metal buttons were found in the grave, most of which were severely damaged by corrosion. The chemical analysis established very high content of chloride compounds (up to 50%) in the composition of the corrosion products. At the same time, the soil samples taken from the grave showed low content of chlorides. Besides, the quantity of chlorides in the corrosion products of metal objects found in other burials in the same church was maximum 2 to 3% (8). The high content of chlorides in the corrosion layer of the buttons found in the grave of tzar Kaloyan can be explained only by the historical data, pointing that the body had been salted (NaCl) with the purpose of partially preserving it (7). Thus, salt provided a worthy funeral of Bulgarian tzar Kaloyan. Salt as drug and as poison In 1935, the remarkable Bulgarian scientist and physician Prof. Dr. Konstantin Chilov (1898- 1955) published an interesting monograph entitled "Common salt as poison and as drug"(9). The edition was published long before such other books like "The hunger for Si7/f"(1984)(10), and "Salt and water in culture and medicine"(1993)(1

1). Who was Prof. Dr. Konstantin Chilov? He was born in the village of Carlukovo, district of Smolyan, Bulgaria. Chilov graduated from the Medical University in Vienna (Austria) in 1925 and further specialized internal diseases in Halle and Freiburg (Germany), and in Vienna between 1926 - 1927. He served as Chair of the First Clinic of Internal Medicine at the Medical University - Sofia, Bulgaria (1945 - 55) and Vice President of the Institute for Clinical Medicine and Public Health at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1848 - 1950). Prof. Chilov was President of the Bulgarian Society for Internal Medicine and member of the German Society for Internal Medicine. During his life, he published over 250 studies in the field of internal diseases (12). In the preface to his monograph, the author emphasized the growing scientific interest towards the "mineral metabolism in the human body", as well as the importance of salt (NaCl) as part of this metabolism and its "role for the physiological functions"

. Based on the latest scientific data at that time, Chilov formulated the aim of the book: "The present work represents an attempt to summarize and to point out the contemporary knowledge on the role of common salt in both normal and pathological processes in the human organism"(p.

6). In this regard, the monograph was a broad panorama of the scientific achievements in the fields of physiology, pathophysiology, clinical medicine and dietetics of that time. The bibliography of the book listed 221 sources in German, French and English, as well as some Bulgarian authors (9).