Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 57-59. (Budapest, 1971)
TANULMÁNYOK - Antall József: A pesti orvosi iskola kialakulása és a centralisták egészségügyi politikája (angol nyelven)
oped states (the Ottoman Empire etc.), and sank into the position of the "back poultryrun". The endless wars led to immense losses int he number of the population. According to estimates the number of the Hungarians was about five millions at the end of the 15 th century, not less than the population of most developed, Western European states, but by the beginning of the 18 th century it was hardly three millions. This demographic factor became decisive both from an economic and from a national point of view. It led to large-scale colonization, to the establishment of new settlements, and so the historical circumstances of the nationality question, which led to so much national strife in Hungary, were born. In areas lacking capital and the resources of the bourgeoisie it was by necessity that only reforms started by the state could facilitate development. It cannot be denied that in Hungary the first important measures in the direction of modernization, and bourgeois development were adopted in the 18 th century, in the period of Habsburg absolutism, which opposed the national aspirations of the Hungarians. This is especially valid for the second half of the rule of Queen Maria Theresa (from the 'sixties onwards), and for the reign of Joseph II (1780-1790), which is regarded as the period of enlightened absolutism, or Josephinism. The organization of health administration and the laying down of the foundations of medical training also falls to this period. The university of Nagyszombat, founded in 1635, was reorganized by Maria Theresa, who completed it with a medical faculty in 1769. 3 Thus Hungarian medical training took its roots from Vienna. Its foundations were laid down by Van Swieten, the disciple of Boerhaave, and the first professors of medicine at Nagyszombat and Buda were his former students. True, there were many Hungarians visiting the universities of England, the Netherlands, Germany, but as their majority was Protestant, they could not hope to receive a professorship at home. In spite of the undoubted disadvantages of that fact one must admit that those trained by the first Viennese school, by Van Swieten, formed a body having a common scientific and educational approach, which by all means had some pedagogical advantages over individual men of talent. I. We felt we could not dispense with drawing this undoubtedly superficial and sketchy historical background when we want to show the significance of the following process, one of the greatest turning points of Hungarian history. The fight for national independence and for the transformation of the social order was both the imperative demand of history and the program of political progress in the 19 th century. Emerging Hungarian intelligentia, and one of 8 Duka Zólyomi N. : Orvosképzés a nagyszombati egyetem orvosi karán. = Comm. Hist. Artis Med. 51 — 5:}. (1969), 35 — 50.
