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)
G. Jeszenszky: Medical and Sanitary Conditions in Hungary as Seen by British Travellers, 1790—1848
MEDICAL AND SANITARY CONDITIONS IN HUNGARY AS SEEN BY BRITISH TRAVELLERS, 1 7 90 — 18 48 by GÉZA JESZENSZKY '"^TT*o see ourselves as others see us" has always been an intriguing experience, for laymen and historians alike. One of the best ways to get acquainted with foreign opinion on Hungary and her conditions is to study those contemporary accounts which are commonly termed travel-books. In most cases such books —especially when written in the previous centuries —contain far more than simply the description of the trip and the "sights". They often comprise a wealth of information on contemporary political events, geography, customs, living conditions, clothing, industry and commerce, mining, culture, institutions, etc. as well as revealing the character and personality of the observer. Their significance in the field of medical history is not limited to the information given on cultural and social history but they also have much to say on the climate, the sanitary and health conditions found in the various parts of the country, the nature and quantity of eating and drinking, the hospitals, public baths, and even on some cases of diseases and their treatment. 1 Of course not all of their statements can be taken at face- value, they do not draw a comprehensive picture and so the contemporary medical situation should not be judged entirely on the basis of what they had seen and written, their evaluation has not always stood the test of time (e.g. on contagion) but on the whole these books are much more than interesting reading, or a collection of antiquarian curiosities. 1 There is no comprehensive work either on the value of the accounts of Hungary written by foreign travellers or the merits of the British writings as a source for historians. István Gál has drawn an interesting sketch of the visits of Englishmen in North Hungary: "Régi utazók a Felvidéken" in his Magyarország, Anglia és Amerika (Hungary, England and America) (Budapest, 1945) pp. 43—49. and notes on pp. 255—256., which had appeared in English: "Early English Travellers in Upper Hungary" in Danubian Review, 1939 Nov., pp. 5 — 11. There are two useful collections of original extracts: István Szamota, ed. Régi utazások Magyarországon és a Balkán-félszigeten 1054—1717 (Old Travels in Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula), (Budapest, 1891) and Haraszti-Pethő, Utikalandok a régi Magyarországon (Adventures in Old Hungary) (Budapest, 1963) with an introductory chapter by L. Makkai. The English impact on the Hungary of the "Age of Reforms" has been well traced in a concise work by Sándor Fest, Angolok Magyarországon a reformkorszakban. 1825—48. (English visitors in Hungary in the Age of Reforms) (Budapest, 1920). The medical references contained in Szamota's collection have been separately published by Ignác Schwarz in the Orvosi Hetilap, Vol. 1891, Nos. 47 and 50. 5*
