Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 218-221. (Budapest, 2012)

KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Monos Emil—László Molnár—Lajos Szollár—Osmo Hänninen: Rácz Sámuel, az első magyar nyelven írott élettan-tankönyv írója

KÖZLEMÉNYEK

SÁMUEL RÁCZ, AUTHOR OF THE FIRST PHYSIOLOGY TEXTBOOK WRITTEN IN HUNGARIAN

EMIL MONOS - LÁSZLÓ MOLNÁR - LAJOS SZOLLÁR - OSMO HÄNNINEN

Introduction

After having reached their present homeland, Hungarians enjoyed the blessings of a more than thousand-year old European local culture, since Pannonia formerly had been part of the Roman Empire. Aquincum, the predecessor of present Budapest, was founded also by Romans. Hungarian language, however, proved to be an obstacle of international communication being surrounded by differently structured Indo-European languages the same way as Finnish was in the North. No wonder why Hungarians attempted to use their own special language in healing and medicine as well.

Samuel Rácz (1744-1807) was a central figure in the development of Hungarian medical terminology. Two hundred years have now elapsed from his death. Elias Lönnrot played a similar role in Finland as a developer of medical and related terminology. Some fifty years after Rácz Lönnrot published a book entitled Suomalaisen talonpojan kotilääkäri (Home doctor for Finnish farmers) (Lönnrot 1838), which later appeared in several editions. This helped the adoption of the essential terms needed, although not all the words he suggested have survived.

The medical textbooks are necessary to help communication in folk language. This helps to standardise the expressions. Without these in folk language, the education in health sciences, as also in practical health care is difficult. This objective should also be reached in other Finno-Ugric languages.

Short biography of Samuel Rácz

Samuel Rácz (KÁTAI 1859, HŐGYES 1896, SCHULTHEISZ 2001) was born on 30 March 1744 in Gyulafehérvár (now Alba lulia, Romania) in eastern Transylvania, in a Calvinist family. He turned to Catholicism due to Jesuit missionaries. He started his school education in Kolozsvár (now Cluj, Romania) and continued studies in art in Nagyszombat (now Tmava, Slovakia). At the University of Vienna he studied theology and law as student of the Jesuit order. Finally he selected medicine for his career. He left the Jesuit organization and graduated in medicine and defended his dissertation De sanitate conservanda. Samuel Rácz's success in studies was noticed.

After graduation Samuel Rácz returned to Hungary. He was nominated royal director of health care in Nagybánya (now Baia Mare, Romania). In the following year he became