Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 66-68. (Budapest, 1973)

TANULMÁNYOK - Bugyi Balázs: Az iparegészségügy kezdetei Magyarországon (1928-ig) (angol nyelven)

lower jaw, the first device of its kind known to us in the field of stomatology which "permitted the bearer to speak and eat and inhibited saliva drivel/' Under the impulse of general indignation in the wake of Petz' lecture, Aladár Rózsahegyi suggested to put an end to the revolting state of things by "appointing a committee with the task to examine health installations in the local match factories and to make reports about the health conditions found to prevail among the workers and about regulations enforced on the concerned factories by the authorities;—moreover, should the existing rules prove inadequate for safeguarding the workers's health, to submit proposals for amendment or supplement." Declaring agreement with the proposal, the Royal Medical Society appointed József Fodor, professor of public health at the university, to chairman, K. Kétly, J. Kelen, A. Rózsahegyi, A. Bradács, L. Petz, J. Arkövy and Á. Bókay to members of the committee which, called thus into being, seems to claim credit for the issue of the Home Ministry Order Nr. 1771 (June 3), "urging to obey the rules of hygiene in match factories and requiring the authorities to see how they are carried into effect." Particulars about the actions of the committee are not known but it appears likely that they rested satisfied with the release of the Home Ministry decree and ceased to concern themselves any further with the matter. Meanwhile the employment of juveniles under miserable hygienic conditions went on in the phosphorus match factories. Further grave occurrences of the disease were reported in 189G by Polyák and 1898 by Hattyasi, warning that "much greater care be taken for the workers' proper dental and oral hygiene so as to save them from bone necrosis and other morbid states by the effect of phosphorus. Whenever some lesion is noticed in the denture or buccal cavity of a worker, he should be referred to medical care in order to prevent phosphorus injuries in due course of time." József Lévai, reporting the recurrence, as well as his own successful surgical operations, of "phossy jaws" in 1896, called attention to the non-diminishing frequency and severity of harms due to phosphorus fumes in match-making which, despite all the efforts, scientific statements and sanitary propaganda of the medical profession, continued to fetch its victims from the workers, mainly among the underaged, for the lack of any coercive measure, if not to stop the manufacture of matches from yellow phosphorus, so at least to introduce improved labour conditions for it.

12 VII. Rapidly as Budapest advanced on the road of industrialization and development, so increased the frequency and severity of industrial health injuries. The public health authority of the capital town under chief medical officer 12 Friedrich V. : A phosphor okozta megbetegedések különös tekintettel a magyarországi gyufagyári viszonyokra. (Diseases Caused by Phosphorus with a Special View to the Conditions of Match-making in Hungary.) A Törvényes Munkásvédelem Magyarországi Egyesületének kiadványai, 4. (Publications of the Legal Laboursafety Association in Hungary, Vol. 4.) Budapest 1908.