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)
I. Friedrich: The Spreading of Jenner's Vaccination in Hungary
I. Friedrich : The Spreading of Jenner's Vaccination in Hungary 151 for the sake of emphasis he quoted the Holy scriptures: ''Respect the doctor rememhering need." With patience, cleverness, the prophetic anger of a good teacher and with the physician's helpfulness he refuted the prejudices one by one. "By inoculating vaccine we violate nature," 3 4 And is it not a fiolent intervention when somebody has himself bleeded, cupped, uses vomitives or vesicants? "My Grandfather and my Parents , my Wife, myself and other many thousands luckily survived the natural variola, consequently my children could overcome it luckily as well. .. " 35 Many millions of people could not become fathers and grandfathers because they had died in their childhood by variola, answered Márkus. In 1808 three hundred and twenty-eight children died whose fathers and mothers had overcome variola! The opinion that "variola served to keep up the health " and it was necessary to remove the variola poison from the body was opposed by Bene already in his first book. "There is no variola poison in us, only inclination and possibility for contracting it", explained Márkus. 3 6 For many people it was incomprehensible how one or two pustules, occuring after vaccination, can save men from epidemics till the end of their lives. Jenner's opinion that a single vaccination makes one immune for his whole life, was still shared by everybody at the beginning of the century. In 1830's doctors cam to realize in Hungary that the defence-power of vaccination became weaker after a certain period and the danger of contracting the disease could exist with inoculated persons, too. The idea of revaccination resurrected the waves of doubts and uncertainties. The use of vaccine gaine from animals for the cure of human beings was followed by uncomprehending twisting of heads: "...who knows whether the children will not get the diseases of oxen and cows?" 3 7 In 1801 an epidemic of variola was successfully brought under control in Kolozsvár and it devastated only in the outskirts of the town where the parents did not let their children vaccinated saying: "who has seen increasing the miseries of man with the illness of the cattle!" 3 8 The denial was convincing and witty again: "...you are fed by the meat of these catties, by their fat, blood and milk without any indignation and you are not afraid of becoming oxen or cows and you are worried even less to contract their diseases." 3 9 Later on physicians were often complaining that in the lower strata of the population medical science fails. In the 1840's articles appeared on this subject 3 4 Ibid. p. 11. 3 5 Ibid. p. 12. 3 6 Ibid. p. 16. 3 7 Ibid. p. 30. 3 8 Nyulas, Ferenc: Kolosvári tehén himlő {Cow-pox in Kolosvár). Kolozsvár, 1802. p. 14. 3 9 Márkus, Sándor: A tehén himlőoltás felől uralkodó előítéletek megtzáfolását magyar nyelven kiadta... (Disproving of the Prejudices Against Smallpox Vaccination, edited in Hungarian by...). Nagyvárad, 1811. p. 30.
