Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)
Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts (Guide for the Exhibition)
V. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE AGE OF ABSOLUTISM IN HUNGARY Public health in Hungary in the first third of the 18th century - especially as regards the number of physicians - cannot be considered as satisfactory. There were counties where not even one physician could be found. The Hungarian Consilium Locumtenentiale (Governing Council) was set up in 1723 and within its scope a permanent Hungarian council of public health was established in 1738. The organization of the central health administration meant a definite progress compared to measures adopted by local authorities until that time. Public health became part of state administration, thus the foundations of a broader public health policy, extending to the whole country were laid down. The organisation of public health in the Monarchy was organized by Gerard van Swieten (1700-1772), the organizer of the first - Vienna school of medicine, and medical adviser of Maria Theresa. The Consilium Locumtenentiale passed a decree in 1752 that each county should keep a trained physician - called "physicus" at that time - whose authority was to cover the whole field of public health : pharmacies, guilds of surgeons, midwives, health administration, protection from epidemics. It meant the starting point of the future institution of medical officers. The detailed regulation entitled "Generale Normativųñ in Re Sanitatis" which prescribed the official duties of physicians, surgeons, midwives and apothecarians was published in 1770. It was written by József Hodosi Skollanich, "physicus" of Pozsony county. Soon afterwards (1786) the post of the chief medical officer (regni protomedicus) was organized. He was to be responsible for the training of physicians, the supervision of education, and the administration of hospitals. These changes in health administration brought an upswing in public health in Hungary. The history of university training in Hungary began in 1367 when King Louis the Great (1342-1382) founded a university in Pécs. It was followed by the University at Old-Buda established by King Sigismund (1387-1437) and that of Pozsony (today Bratislava, Czechoslovakia) founded in 1467 by Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490), the great renaissance king. At the universities of OldBuda and Pozsony medicine was taught, too. From the second half of the 15th century, however, there was no medical training in the country and those who wanted to study medicine had to attend foreign universities. Since Protestant students were excluded from receiving the title of Doctor of Medicine at the University of Vienna even in the second half of the 18th century, they had to attend universities in Holland, Switzerland or England. The major part of the Hungarian medical students received the support of the town of aris-
