J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary. Presented to the XXII. International Congress for the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 4. (Budapest, 1970)
ESSAYS-LECTURES - J. Antall—D. Karasszon: Victor Babes and the Medical School of Pest (in English)
nique, but there was hardly any important method that he did not know and he was never content until it was tried and used in his institute. When bacteriology emerged he received it most enthusiastically, and though owing to his advanced age he could practise the new science only to a limited degree, he knew nearly all its major results. BABES'S ACTIVITY IN HUNGARY The first professional writings of Babes still bear the mark of his master. Scheuthauer, who had been educated in Vienna and was the disciple of Rokitansky for ten years, continued to be the follower of his master, so he showed a special preference for the more difficult chapters of his profession, which often demanded much effort to prepare for the lectures. His favourite topics were the developmental anomalies of the heart, the myeloarchitecture of the central nervous system, and the parasites. He liked to speak on them in great length and detail. The first works of Babes, published in the institute of Scheuthauer were: "On a peculiar form of innate aortic valve insufficiency"; "On a peculiar form of the anomalies of the ventricular septum"; "On a vermicule found in human peritoneum"; "Lateral sclerosis combined with dorsal sclerosis in the spinal cord". His first publication appeared in the Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly) : "Microscopic examination of an inherited syphilitic case", even previous to his promotion which took place in Vienna [21]. Victor Babes started to work on the aetiology of infectious diseases in 1881, still in the institute of Scheuthauer, encouraged by and under the influence of his master's enthusiasm for bacteriology. His first publication in this field appeared in the Természettudományi Közlöny (Natural Science Journal) in 1881 under the title "On the pathogenic bacteria" [22]. The communication, due to its comprehensive character and modern approach, could appear even today with some slight alterations. In the introduction the grateful student remembered his teacher: "Already the ancient Egyptians knew the ascarides well, in fact professor Scheuthauer proved by studying the Ebers-papyrus that the small parasite, which has recently been identified as the cause of Egyptian chlorosis, was already known by the ancient Egyptians as that." The first publication of Babes on the subject of bacteriology was followed by a series of papers, based on independent research, which appeared in foreign languages, too. The yearbook of the University [23] for the the academic year 1882/83 shows that professor Frigyes Korányi produced three communications, professor Endre Högÿes two, whereas private professor Victor Babes could boast of twenty-four in that year. His remarkably studious and productive activities did not escape the attention of the faculty, and Frigyes Korányi obtained for him a foreign scholarship. He did not have a very difficult task, the less so as the man who was in charge of the affairs of the universities was Lajos Markusovszky, the friend of Balassa, Semmelweis and Korányi, while the Minister of Education was the friend and brother-in-law of József Eötvös, one of the leading figures of the Centralist 188
