Schultheisz Emil: Traditio Renovata. Tanulmányok a középkor és a reneszánsz orvostudományáról / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 21. (Budapest, 1997)

20. The contacts of the two Dees and Sir Philip Sidney with Hungarian physicians

Z^oo¡ caused considerable stir. Small wonder it is that János Bánfihunyadi—or as the English called him, Johannes Banfi Hunyades, or also Hans Hungar—felt strongly attracted to England and found his second home in the Island. * From the 16th century onwards, dealing with chemical substances had become more and more associated with physicians. It was Paracelsus who put it into words when he stated that the true aim of alchemy was not the making of gold but the preparing of medicines. "In der Alchemie, da finden wir den Grund der Medizin und Alles was not ist.

.. Ich weise euch auch zu nichts anderem in die Alchemie als allein zur Bereitung der Arznei.

' '

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2 Apart from philosophy and astronomy—which, however, must not be thought of in today's terms—the third pillar on which Paracelsus's therapeutics is based is alchemy. With its help man moulds substances given by nature in a form best suiting his own needs. Thus with Paracelsus alchemy does not mean goldmaking, or anything of the kind. Alchemy must not be regarded solely as the predecessor of chemistry, putting aside all that does not expressly concern chemistry as mysticism and superstition; however, it is also wron to see in alchemist writings nothing but data to he history of ideas, and to neglect all the chemistry treated within it as revealer of secret traditions. All the more so, since in the world of alchemist thinking practical chemistry was inseparably interwined with philosophic and religious ideas. Seen in this light, it is easy to understand that chemists and physicians, bearing importance from the aspect of exact sciences, could be natural scientists and mystics all at the same time. This duality characterises also the figure of Banfi Huniades. Though we have no certain knowledge of his having been a doctor of medicine, we can still regard it as highly justified that István Weszprémi mentioned him among the distinguished physicians of Hungary and Transylvania in his above-mentioned collection of biographies

—and right in the first volume. A medical historian of later times, Gyula Magyary-Kossa also refers to the fact that Banfi Huniades is mentioned in certain early writings as a doctor, though he cannot prove anything for certain either. According to Weszprémi he descended from an ancient Hungarian dynasty, the Bánffy family of Hunÿađ. This supposition, however, is not based on proofs of full value. Johannes Banfi Huniades's biography and his career in England were described by two excellent British authors

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3 in full detail and with great reliability. We have complemented their findings with some Hungarian data

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4 in one of our earlier works, therefore, we do not intend to go into details here. The study by Sherwood-Taylor and Josten, referred to above, mentions Bánfihunyadi's activities which were important from the aspect of medical history, several times: "Besides being a professor at Gresham College was interested in or concerned with the technical side of chemistry, manufactures and medicines or materials for such

''. It is his writings on pharmacochemistry and pharmacology that make Bánfihunyadi's natural scientific work so important for medical science. It is no mere chance that in the ma4

2 Die grosse Wundarznei. 1536. Sudhoffs ed. 10, 363. 4

3 Sherwood Taylor, F.—Josten, C. H. op. cit. 44—52.; the same authors op. cit. Vol. 5, Nos 3-4, 1956, 115. 4

4 Schultheisz E.—Tardy L.: Bánfihunyadi János az újabb adatok tükrében (J. Bánfihunyadi in the Light of Newer Data). Orvosi Hetilap 1969, pp. 2349—2352.