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

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2 Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 6.) given to the list of questions inquiring the position of physicians in country towns, the following conclusions can be drawn: Questions were: 1. What is your total annual salary drewn after medical activity?

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9 2. How much is your honorarium for visits? 3. How much is your rent? 4. Do you run a carriage and how much does it cost; In view of the answers ;

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0 Income — Less than 4000 Crowns . ....... 22% Less than 2000 Crowns 8% Between 4000 and 8000 43% More than 8000 Crowns 25% Consulting fee Between 40 Filler and 1 Crown 24% More than 1 Crown 75% Less than 40 Filler in one case Free quarters .............................................. 10% Own house 24% Rent Less than 400 Crowns 7,5% Between 400 and 600 Crowns 8,5% Between 600 and 1000 Crowns 26,0% More than 1000 Crowns 22,0% Horse and cart at the costs of 1000—1400 Crowns 28% 19% of the physicians was unmarried, 30% had no children. Maximal income from the age of 30 onwards to the age of 50, then it was decreasing. According to this evidence, half, or even more than half of the total income of the physicians fell to the costs of rent and running a carriage. It points to the fact that the doctors had sufficient funds at their disposal deriving from other sources of income: own fortune, dowry or some extra earnings. Some physicians had secondary occupations, e.g. directorship in savings banks. It would need a special analysis to establish in how many cases the exclusive exercising of their profession can be proved an how could they make living from it. After all, the data quoted above prove that the position of the country town physicians seemed to be relatively the best, and the position of the village and district medical officers was the worst: Percentage ration of the physicians living in villages

: Less than 4000 Crowns total income .............. 75% Less than 3000 Crowns total income .............. 44% Less than 2000 Crowns total income .............. 12% Between 4000 and 8000 Crowns 24% More than 8000 Crowns 0.5% 1

9 The value of one golden USA dollar around the turn of the century was 4.935 crowns. 2

0 National Association of Physicians, op. cit.