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 /¡_ 2 Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med . Suppl. 6.) in the columns of the Hungarian medical periodical Orvosi Tár (Medical Collection). Many times the country folk could be induced to take their children to the vaccination only by threats and force. Another article disapproved that parents and children were driven to the place of vaccination by armed men and village drummers. "The days of tutelage are gone and one must not shower benefactions upon a free person against his vill ; he must be convinced about the use and success of vaccination and he must be properly educated. . ." 4 0 They tried to make education and enlightening efficient partly by writing and partly by the power of the spoken word. THE VEHICLES OF INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTION At the beginning of the previous century the book was the most frequent form of the literature dealing with variola. This literature was very rich in Hungary; the medical practitioners worked for wiping out variola not only by the lancet but by the help of the printed word as well. These early publications were written mainly in Hungarian and their aim was first of all the enlightenment of the public. At the same time they served professional information, too, as there was no specialist periodical at that time. Its true that the book serves the demands of those who want to get informations much slower, but in spite of this its role is indisputable at the beginning of the century. The formation of the Hungarian scientific professional language falls to the same period, and it was marked by a "rustic style", uncertain orthography and the changeover from Latin and German to Hungarian nomenclature. At the first time books were considered as the best instruments for fighting down the obstacles in the way of vaccination by the official organs, too. The book by Bene on Jenner's vaccination, which ran into several editions, was translated into Slovak, Croat and Rumanian, into the languages of the nationalities, by the Consilium locumtenentiale and its distribution was pressed at every part of the country. The book of József Szatĥmári, chief medical officer of Borsod county entitled "Short Treatise on the Vaccination of Variola Mostly for the Instruction of the Public " was propagated in several languages by the authorities. In Transylvania we can conclude to the lack of central arrangements by the fact that the protomedicus, Ferenc Ņÿųlas, who had written about his experiences of variola vaccination and on the epidemic in the town of Kolozsvár, had to have it printed privately —like Jenner —in 1802 and sent it himself to the physicians and surgeons of Transylvania. 4 0 Észrevételek az orvoskar javaslata ügyében. Több megyei főorvosoktól (Remarks on the Suggestion of the Medical Profession. By Numerious County Physicians). O. T. 1848. Vol. I. No. 20. p. 309.
