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)

M. Vida : Serving two Nations: Tivadar Duka (1825—1908)

M. Vida : Serving two Nations: Tivadar Duka. 199 emigration and who known Duka from when he was head of the garrison of Buda, spoke highly of him in a letter sent to Kossuth, which described the differences of opinion among the exiles: "There are

, however, some excellent men here

, whom I feel my duty to recommend to Your Excellency. Their dexterity and firmness.

.. can he relied on under all circumstances

. They fall into two groups

: the first do not need any financial assistance

... on the basis of my intimate knowledge I can list Captain Duka among them. . ."

1

2 Duka in fact lived on the remnants of his fortune and did not accept any help from the fund of the Hungarian emigrants. Thanks to his linguistic gifts he soon mastered the English language and started to study medicine. He was a student at St. George's Hospital founded by Sir Benjamin Br odie, where he had clinical practice as part of the training. Here he found a lifelong friend in the person of George Pollock, who years later, had the following to write about him: "I have watched him since he first became a pupil at St. George's Hospital

: and I can truly say, that it has never been my lot, to meet with one more devoted to his profession; more capable of competing with its difficulties

; or more honorable in the exercise of his practiceZ'

13 George Pollock was the son Sir George Pollock, a general in British India, who consolidated British power there following the first Afghan War. These were the last years of the government of the East India Company and it was due to Pollock's help that at the end of 1853 after passing his last examinations and receiving his degree Duka was immediately appointed field surgeon of the Bengal Presidency settlement. He sailed in the same year to take up his new profession under the tropical sun. MEDICAL ACTIVITIES IN BENGAL Travelling was still a tiresome business in the middle of the 19th century, as it was testified by Duka in a later lecture delivered in Hungary. '*In the years preceding the Crimean War travelling from Paris to the Mediterranean, i.e. Marseille, was accomplished mainly by means of the diligence as the railways still only partially completed in that part of France

. In Egypt one was conveyed first on the old Nile canal up to Bulak, hence across the desert on carts drawn by mules or on camels; in East India, too, railways were built only later..."

u By taking this route Duka arrived in Calcutta on 14 February 1854 and started his medical service lasting for a quarter of a century until he retired in April 1877. Soon after his arrival in India, at the end of 1855 he married the sister of Charles Taylor, another fellow-student, whose father was Doctor of Divinity 1

2 Miklós Kiss to Lajos Kossuth. London, March 5 1852. Budapest. Országos Levéltár, Kossuth-hagyaték. 1

3 George Pollock to Endre Kovács. London, October 15 1866. Budapest. Semmelweis Orvostörténeti Múzeum. Történeti Dokumentáció XI. 1

4 Duka, Tivadar: Első benyomások... (First impressions...) p. 4.