Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 89-91. (Budapest, 1980)
KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK - ELŐADÁSOK - Benedek Jaszmann, László: Hendrik van Deventer (1651—1724) a németalföldi szülészet alapvetője (angol nyelven)
HENDRIK VAN DEVENTER (1651 — 1724) THE SILVERSMITH WHO BECAME THE CO-FOUNDER OF MODERN OBSTETRICS L. J. BENEDEK-JASZMANN The seventeenth century has often been called the "age of the modern physiology and anatomy" because of the different kinds of fundamental discoveries in this field. All these medical men sought the causes of the illnesses and tried to find remedies for them by doubting and questioning all accepted ideas and beliefs. They represented the spirtit of the modern age of individualism, independence and criticism of religions and politics. Their work were no longer being guided by metaphysical speculation as in the past, but by a basically sound scientific approach of their work. I would like to mention only few famous personalities: Willian Harvey (1578-1657) described in 1616 the blood circulation, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was the first to depict the biological cell, Reinier De Graff (1641-1673) at Delft opposed first the Aristotelian doctrine of the egg being formed in the uterus and held that generation takes place from the ovum pre-existent in the ovary. As a basis for the new anatomical concepts and knowledge is considered the inventor of the microscope Anthonie Van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) also living in Delft, Holland. Marcello Malpighi (16281694) whose name stands highest in the field of microscopy in the 17th century was the father of tissue studies of descriptive embryology; his discovery of the capillaries and their circulation in the lung completed Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood. Hendrik Van Roonhuy se (1622-1672) practicing general surgery in Amsterdam made a remarkable contribution to 17th century gynaecology when in 1663 he published his work, often been referred to as the first textbook on operative gynaecology. The seventeenth century was also an important turnpoint in the history of obstetrics, when the medical doctors started to take seriously the problems of obstetrics, first paying attention to physiological deliveries. It is not surprising that surgeons were the ones who first became interested in physiological deliveries. François Mauriceau (1637-1709) and Paul Portal (1630-1703) of Paris were the most able accoucheurs of their time working in the famous hospital Hôtel Dieu; they wrote the first modern textbook of obstetrics, later translated into many languages. In this paper I would like to mention the life and medical activity of the Dutch co-founder of modern obstetrics, Hendrik van Deventer (1651-1742). He lived at the time when the Netherlands was first founded from the "Seven Provinces" forming the "United Republic of the Netherlands". All the relatively small provinces were independent restants of different territories in the middle age which became into power when the union was founded. Besides the troubles among the different provinces themselves, they had a common enemy in the South, the mighty Habsburg Imperium.
