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
ioo Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 6.) producing the disease, we were just as much exposed to them as the inhabitants of the country could be, and besides, the very idea of travelling for pleasure ' where death seemed hovering round our every step was so painful that we hastened on more quickly than we otherwise should have done through this beautiful country." 18 He added a characteristic note to these sentences. "To those who believe in the antiseptic powers of certain substances and their utility in preventing the spread of epidemic diseases, it may afford matter for reflection , that here, where everything, from the corny ou eat to the water you wash in, perhaps the very air you breathe, is impregnated with salt —one of the strongest antiseptics —the cholera raged with as much violence as in the poisoned alleys of a great city." 1 9 "Though no believer in contagion" , Paget nevertheless did not agree with those who thought that the "spoilt air", or generally the climate was the cause of infectious diseases: the village of Homoródalmás "was one of the largest and most flourishing we had met in Transylvania. The situation of this place one would have thought as healthy as possible ; the country round it was fruitful and lovely as a garden, the inhabitants were evidently well off, and the houses large and airy, yet here the cholera was raging more fiercely than in any other place we had yet visited. The graveyard seemed to have been fresh ploughed up, so completely was it covered with new-made graves, and several were standing open for occupants already prepared to fill them." There were other epidemic diseases which took their toll until the 1840's when the regulation of the rivers and the spread of medical culture gradually put an end to so many of them. The most common ones were: typhus, measles, diphteria, rabies, "Russian" influenza etc. In the 10th century smallpox was no longer the same dreadful and common disease than previously. At first variolation was administered but it spread rather slowly, until Jenner's discovery completely changed the situation. Vaccination was made compulsary in 1813. This was a remarkably quick reaction though its execution was far from being easy due to the lack of physicians and vaccine as well as to the aversion of the population. The first steps in this direction were witnessed by Dr Bright. ".. .here, as in other places, great improvements make their first progress slowly ; and, though De Carro introduced vaccination into Vienna in May 1799, more than two years elapsed before it was attempted at Pesth. In August 1801, Dr. Bene inoculated the first subject. Afterwards, when its efficacy was seen, the inoculation of the cowpox rapidly diffused itself throughout the country." 2< ) The climate and the lack of sanitation greatly contributed to the frequency of some diseases, especially in the south, which had been most affected by Turkish misrule and indolence. Temesvár (today Timisoara in Rumania) and the surrounding Bánát, once —and today too —one of the richest and most fertile districts, had an especially ill fame. Around 1770 I. Born spoke of it as "the country of death" inhabited by "living skeletons" 2 1 and Hunter did 1 8 Ibid. pp. 404-5. 1 9 Ibid. ¾ 0 Bright, p. 288. 2 1 I. Born, Travels through the Bannat of Temeswar etc. (London, 1777).
