Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 194-195. (Budapest, 2006)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - SCHULTHEISZ, Emil: Literature on Public Health and State Medicine in Hungary in the Age of Enlightenment

serve as a guide for his subsequent students. Entitled Aphorismi de politia medica (Pest, 1795), this 182-page long university textbook was a summary of his scientific achievements, containing a collection of his lectures and the results of his investigations in the field of state medicine. It was also published in Leipzig, in 1797. For many years afterwards, Schraud's work remained the only coursebook available on the subject. Even though at that time Huszty was already widely quoted in foreign publications, this official textbook of the medical faculty of Pest contained no references whatsoever to his Diskurs. When Schraud became the protomedicus (chief medical officer) of Hungary in 1803, his university department was taken over by Ferenc Bene (1775-1858). Bene was described in the obituary published in Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly) following his death in 1858 as "the most prominent physician of his age in Hungary.'" He wrote a new university textbook, one that was more extensive and detailed than Schraud's guide, entitled Element Politiae medicae (Buda, 1807). Bene did not quote Huszty's book either. He mentioned Diskurs only in his bibliography list of systematic works (opera systematica), placing it second after J. P. Frank's fundamental book. Hungarian literature on the theory of medical police contemporaneous to Huszty's book consisted of only one short piece of work. This was a monograph on forensic medicine written in German and Latin by J. J. Plenk (1735-1807), a pre-eminent professor of medicine who lectured at Nagyszombat, Buda, and later Vienna, and commanded a vast stock of learning. Having discussed his subject extensively, Plenk gave a brief summary of the basics of medical police in only a few pages. Fie said he would not go into more detail, as the topic was "dealt with in Frank's Politia medica in a very good and thorough manner." It is thanks to Plenk's fellow professor, Sámuel Rácz, that a book written in the Hungarian language - entitled Orvosi Politia (Medical Police) - appeared in the 18' century to complement the German and Latin monographs and university textbooks written by the Hungarian scholars working in the field. In his "Foreword" to that book, Rácz expressed the opinion commonly held by all his contemporary fellow scholars of public health: "In all well-regulated Republics, maintaining and protecting the health and life of the general public is one of the most important concerns; and such is not without reason, since for a person not to exist, or for him to be unable to perform his public duties because of an illness, is essentially the same from the point of view of the Republic." Therefore, Rácz said, it was important to study the theory of politia medica, "... so that nothing should be left out which for whatever reason may be deemed necessary for maintaining the health and life of the people." Even today, the mission of public health needs no better definition than that. EMIL SCHULTHEISZ, MD, Hon.M.D., Prof.em. Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archives for the History of Medicine H-1023 Budapest Török U.12. HUNGARY