Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 18-19. (Budapest, 2000)

Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts - Guide to the Exhibition

pillows arc placcđ on the top of them, which form a stand for the Hygeia and Asclepios statues, both added later to the balances. Asclcpios is represented with his usual attribute, a coiling snake on a stick. The anatomy of the statue is perfectly accurate, the fine execution of the folds of the toga and the delicate smile of the figure suggests that it was made by an excellent master. The balance itself, which was later added to the figure, is suspended on the back of the statue without aesthetically spoiling it. XI. Medicine in the first half of the 19th century The spirit and the scientific results of the Enlightenment did not die out without leaving any trace behind. The revolution of scientific thought effected different branches of medicine. Healing had always been considered a science but it indeed became scientific in the 19th ccntury. There was a rapid development in 19th century medicine, most significantly by elaborating new patho-morphological conceptions, and later in the aetiological theories. Without the systematic progress of chemistry and physics, that had been brought forward previously, these mcdical breakthroughs could not have had solid base. A quick progression in mcdical and surgical instruments was another pregnant feature: Jean Nicolas Corvisart (1755-1821), a physician of Napoleon made a new translation of Leopold Auenbrugger's (1722-1809) unfairly forgotten work on percussion, the Inventum novum (A New Invention), originally came out in 1761, and published it under his own name (1808). Corvisart, nevertheless, completed his translation with wide commentaries based on his experiences gained during twenty years of military practice. His efforts were successful and percussion came into a common use. Another Frenchman, Reñe Theophile Hÿųçintĥe Lųenneç (17811826) has introduced stethoscope to internal investigations. This was also the time, when microscope has become a basic instrument of medical laboratories. The introduction of ether as an anaesthetic, the discovery of general anaesthesia, sterilization and haemostasis opened radically new perspectives to surgery. The influence of eminent physicians of this age was twofold: they not only affected university education, but often promoted the rise of various medical schools as well. An ever increasing specialisation has started to accclcratc during the last century. 1. Medical activities in Hungary in the reform period The Hungarian reform period (c. 1825-1848), fighting both for national independence and civil society, carried out new achievements even in medicine. Sur64