J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)

V. R. Harkó and T. Vida : British Contacts of the Hungarian István Weszprémi, M. D. (1723—1799)

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2 Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 6.) by Weszprémi, trying to prove that, after all, the human soul is immortal.

11 This answer appeared also in 1751, but in London. As a matter of fact, Kenrick used some other pseudonyms in other works, writing, for instance, under the name of John Rubriçk. In 1767 Weszprémi burnt the Hungarian translation of the first paper as a "godless and damnable" work before the eyes of his friends. We believe that he would not have done so if he had already seen the "answer" given to the "Grand Question". Consequently, it is an exaggeration to evaluate Weszprémi's philosophy on the basis of this work as did earlier authors. By the way, Weszprémi burnt only the translation; the original English work remained in his library, and in fact he lent it to be read; we have the proof of a note written in his own hand to remind him to whom the book was loaned.

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2 WESZPRÉMI'S TENTAMEN The most significant event of Weszprémi's stay in England was the publication of his Tentamen de Inoculanda Peste, (auctore Stephano Weszprémi, Pannonio, Londini, J. Tuach 1755). The thesis probably appeared only in a small number of copies because still existing prints are regarded as very valuable and rare. The volume in the possession of our Institute in 1756 was presented by the author himself to János Varjas, a professor at the Debrecen College, who taught at the College after having studied in Holland from 1752 until his death in 1786. Probably the two men had been friends in their youth. After the death of János Varjas the book passed into the possession of dr. János Zsoldos, a physician, later the head physician of the County of Veszprém who wrote a number of eminent medical works. When Weszprémi wrote his Tentamen he tackled only the most urgent and most serious problems of his times. Up to the middle of the 18th century the population of Europe used to be decimated by epidemics. The plague was the chief killer of adults, whereas the smallpox and measles epidemics took a heavy toll of children. Weszprémi was 16 when one of the most terrible epidemics of the plague went through Hungary, in 1739, killing 310 000 people. He also witnessed several smallpox epidemics. These frightening memories probably haunted him even in his maturity. The popular belief about the plague and other infectious diseases wasin Weszprémi's childhood still based on the biblical view: "The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee... The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation

... The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

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1 Kenrick, William

: A Reply to the Grand Question debated, fully proving that the soul of man is, and must be, immortal: wherein the folly and infidelity of Deism are exposed, and the belief of the Christian system proved, rationally, necessary. By Ontologos. Vol. VII, p. 77. London, 1751. 1

2 Módis, L.: Op. cit., p. 119.