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)
V. R. Harkó— T. Vida : British Contacts of I. Weszprémi. 133 who could and would have performed this task for him. He did not even inspire the Hungarian physicians to do this although the people of Hungary suffered a great deal from the Black Death for centuries, and he wanted to help in the first place his own country, which in his opinion needed inoculations the worst, for "... thousands of immigrants swarm into Hungary as if dropped from a pregnant Trojan horse. And how they have spread contagion throughout the country is evidenced by the desolated areas , deserted and deprived or their population." In 1756 Weszprémi was in Utrecht. He received his medical degree there and in that year on the basis of his excellent performance at the oral examination and of a medical dissertation on cases noted and dissected during his stay in Zurich and chiefly in England. The thesis brought him renown and success. Professor G. B. Morgagni of Padua, for instance, paid tribute to his observations, and later in his epoch-making work of pathology written in the form of 70 letters 1 6 characterized Weszprémi with the adjectives clarus and laudatus and cited his cases with the proper conclusions. Haller 1 7 also used and appreciated the data from his dissertation. In this way his medical observations in England and his successful medical studies in that country brought recognition for Weszprémi and gave manifest proof of his talent. After he received his degree, Weszprémi started for home, where began a new productive phase of his life. He spent over forty years in Debrecen, the town whose college prepared him so well for studies at foreign universities. WESZPRÉMI'S LIFE AND WORK IN DEBRECEN (1757—1799) Before starting to work as a physician, Weszprémi, as all graduates of foreign universities, had to pass a special examination supervised by the health councellor of the Governor's Council. He took the examination on April 27, 1757 and passed with honours. So he was permitted to settle and practice medicine in Debrecen. What was this east-Hungarian city like in those days? We can refer the reader to a description by a Britisher. Having visited Hungary in 1793, Robert Townson wrote of Debrecen in the following vein: "To what circumstance Debretzin owes its existence I don't know ; nor can I divine what can have induced thirty thousand people to select a country destitute of springs , rivers, building materials, fuel, and the heart-cheering vine for their 1 6 Weszprémi's M. D. Dissertation : Disputatio Inauguralis sistens Obs. Med... submisit St. Weszprémi Pannonius. Trajecti ad Rhenum, 175(5. Weszprémi's medical observations are mentioned in Morgagni's De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indigatis. 2nd ed. Patavii, 1765. Sumpt. Remondinianis, Vols. I —II. 64th letter, Chapter, 4, p. 361 (chest diseases). 65th letter, Chapters 16-17. p. 369 (abdominal diseases). 68th letter, Chapter 2, p. 379 (on fevers). 1 7 Haller: Elementa physiologiae corp. hum. Vols I-VIII. p. 226, Vol. VI. Q
