Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 89-91. (Budapest, 1980)

TANULMÁNYOK - Magyar, Imre: Belgyógyászati irányzatok Magyarországon a két világháború között (angol nyelven)

constitutional research. He used Paltauf's thymicolymphatic constitution for demonstrating the career of such a constitutional concept, which was not even terminated by that the autopsy of young soldiers killed in the war clearly proved that persistent thymus was not an exception and not a partial symptom of a special constitution. It is an attractive game to form constitutional concepts based on the frequent coexistence of different phenomena beside being shown also lacking objective contents. Huchard's diathése fibreuse classified chronic nephritis, liver cirrhosis and arteriosclerosis as one group. Czerny's exudative diathesis, Bergmann's vegetative somatization, the French arthritisme including diabetes, gout, obesity as well as lithiasis, transformed under English influence lithaemia, including arteriosclerosis, rheumatism

, asthma, eczema, and finally, even tuberculosis, were improbable speculations which

—with the exception of exudative diathesis

—could not stand scientific criticism

. Perusing Kretschmer's constitution pathology completed with data from literature and fine arts, De Giovanni's constitution anatomy searching the relationship between external sizes and functions, the constitutional types of Viola and Pende and Sigaud's respiratory, muscular, digestive and cerebral types and finally repeatedly encountering the asthenic, schizothymic, pyknic, cyclothymic, the athletic and muscular types without any proof of their particular importance in pathology. "Clarifying the relationship between constitution and predisposition to diseases as well as the influence upon their course is undoubtedly a problem physicians are most concerned to solve. But at present, only the study of some hereditary diseases

—of endocrine and allergic origin

—as well as some constitutional anomalies correlated with certain psychoses has repayed efforts"

, Korányi stated. From the end of World War I on, independent of political conditions, medicine and medical practice obviously started to flourish. On October 16, 1920 sessions of the Medical Association were started again, and, apart from the stupid, chauvinistic and racist political conduct of Bársony, professor of obstetrics, [19, 25], the activity of the Association seemed to be on quite a high level. The MONE (National Association of Hungarian Physicians) echoed phrases, meanwhile however, outstanding scientific publications appeared frequently by those ardently attacked by the MONE. Postgraduate training of physicians was started, and even J. Pólya's much criticized plan [42] also on modern medical training, with a proposition for teaching in small groups and considering the participation of hospitals in the training inevitable is aproaching realization only in these days. The importance of the fight against tuberculosis was again becoming conspicuous, and S. Korányi [43] was explicit in stating that "Tuberculotic care is no defence against poverty

7". It was also Korányi who proposed the joining together of the mushrooming scientific associations in a single unified association. A review on the importance of psychoanalysis was published in Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly) [44] being though reprobative but relatively objective and detailed. It is again to be noted that the medical literature did not at all reflect the distressing political situation. The fact that psychoanalysis was discussed in public was suggestive of a psychologic trend in medicine. T. Győry's paper presented in 1923 under the title "Retrospection to the Past of Medicine. A Future View" [45] mainly glorified Trousseau as the clinician concerned rather with the patient's personality than his anatomical changes. He pointed out that life cannot be interpreted in a mechanical way. He referred to Bergson's elan vital, that is, he formulated his theses belonging to the mental sphere of neovitalism. There was always some sort of pervading mysticism when scientific