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)
L. Várađi: The Social Position of Physicians in Hungary at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries
THE SOCIAL POSITION OF PHYSICIANS IN HUNGARY AT THE TURN OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES* by LILLA VÁRAD I THE SPHERE OF MEDICATING ACTIVITIES IN HUNGARY A s regards legal orders, the activity of physicians in Hungary was regulated in the last third of the 19th century in concordance with the demands and spirit of the age. Due to the introduction of the uniform training of physicians in 1875 1 and the drawing up and ratification of the Public Health Law in 1876 2 Hungary was among the first countries in Europe in the training of physicians and in medical legislation. 3 But for lack of the necessary conditions, the codifications of the law could not he materialized. In Hungary at that time no one was entitled to practice except those holding a doctor's degree issued by any university in Hungary. Consequently doctors' degrees obtained at foreign universities had to be nostrificated. Without this state certificate a practicing physician was considered a quack and had to be punished accordingly. This usage was quite different from the practice in Germany where thanks to the trade law anybody was allowed to cure. Quackary was controlled in some other way. The Hungarian practice was accompanied by a difficult administration which resulted in the relatively small number of immigrated physicians. In 1980 the number of the physicians in Hungary was only 4805. 4 One physician was responsible for an average of 3300 inhabitants, while in France * Hungarian historiography and researchwork has not given a deep analysis of the social position and public role of the physicians at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Consequently, the basic questions of this subject-matter has not been elucidated yet. The solution of these questions requires an intensive research work. The present publication is rather a methodological study reporting on the partial results achieved in the research of this subject. Without thriveing for completeness, the article aims at rendering a concised picture on the basis of the relatively coherent examples. (Editor) 1 Order No. 19. 349 issued by the Hungarian Royal Ministry of Religion and Education in 1875. 2 Public Health Law; Act 1876: XIV. 3 Varga, L.: Adatok hazánk közegészségügyének a múlt század második felében történt országos rendezéséhez. Népegészségügy I960, 6, p. 173. (Data concerning the national regulation of public health in Hungary at the second half of the 19th century.) 4 Magyar Statisztikai Évkönyv (Hungarian Statistical Almanac) VIII, 1900, Budapest 1901. p. 63.
