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)
E. Schultheisz and L. Tardy: The Contacts of the two Dees and Sir Philipp Sidney with the Hungarian Physicians
THE CONTACTS OF THE TWO DEES AND SIR PHILIP SYDNEY WITH HUNGARIAN PHYSICIANS by EMIL SCHULTHEISZ and LAJOS TARDY /contacts between Hungary and Britain, although their intensity changing, have nevertheless been continuous over the long centuries of the history of medicine in Hungary, up to the present day. Their complete survey would require a whole monograph and can only be a task for future research. In this brief study we wish to call attention to a short but significant period of these contacts. The protagonists of our study are John and Arthur Dee, Sir Philip Sidney and János Bánfihunyadi; from the four only the second was a real physician, the others came to be recorded in the history of Hungarian medicine on account of being vessed in alchemy or else by their scientific contacts with Hungarian physicians and natural scientists. The second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century was the advent of alchemy, but this was already an alchemy which was able to step over its own insignificant shadow, and was inspired apart from wanton goldmaking also by the desire to defeat all sorts of ailments afflicting mankind. At the same time —and this was characteristic of the age —the two altogether opposite driving forces lived together in peace in the mind of scholars. Born in 1527, John Dee 1 was a well-known mathematician, astronomer, astrologier and mainly alchemist. He received a first-class education and excelled with his talents already at a very early age. In 1547 he became one of the first professors of Trinity College, founded by King Henry VIII, However, his smoothly starting career was for a time interrupted, since he was imprisoned under the suspicion of treason during the reign of Mary Stuart. Cleared from the suspicion, John Dee regained his liberty and was allowed to teach again, then he left England. His lectures at the universities of Loųvain, Brussels and Paris, as well as at the college of Rheims earned him a European fame. While in France, he got acquainted with the famous physician and magician of the age, Michel Nostradamus, author of prophecies ranging over three centuries. 2 Having returned to England he became the astronomer of Queen Elizabeth I; he was requested by Lord Dudley to appoint a favourable day 1 For his biographical records see the Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford, Vol. V., pp. 721-729. 2 Deacon, R. : John Dee —Scientist, Geographer, Astrologer and Secret Agent to Elizabeth /. London, 1968. 7 Orvostörténeti Közlemények 6.
