Varga Benedek szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 149-157. (Budapest, 1996)

TANULMÁNYOK / ARTICLES - Vida Mária: Arányi Lajos (1812—1887). Pathológus, művész-illusztrátor, a hazai elsősegélynyújtás kezdeményezője

SUMMARY The article focuses on the artistic achievements of Lajos Arányi who was an outstanding Hungarian pathologist of the 19th century. Arányi, one of the many famous students of the Viennese Karl Rokitansky, introduced pathological anatomy into Hungary in 1844. When he occupied the pathological chair at the University of Pest in 1844, he realised the need for illustrative material and used his artistic talents to provide both his students and the wider public with accurate pictures of the human body. The article gives an introduction into Arányi's ideas about anatomical drawings, presents and analyses a series of pictures made for first aid instructions during the early 1850s. In order to understand the mechanism of the human body properly Arányi regarded it essential to draw the dissected parts. According to his views, and in contrast to artistic drawings the illustrations of pathological anatomy ought to omit shadowing, and should present architectonical instead of perspectival sketches. Drawing should start with the bone structure, followed by the muscles, the viscera, the bloodvessels, and the nerves. The outcome is therefore a kind of stratiform drawing (known also as myoplastical drawing) where each strata should come one by one. The author argues that these stratiform pictures occupy a transitory position between wax moulages and simple pathological drawings, just like relief stands between sculpture and drawing. The article sums up the precursors of this technique from the 16th to the 19th century, both who made drawings or wax-moulages. The illustrations published here, were made by Arányi between 1850 and 1855 for first aid tuition. Initiatives to establish first aid ambulance services were taken from the second part of the 19th century in Hungary, and Arányi contributed in their education and training form the 1850s. The author suggests that this 33 picture about first aid techniques and 5 on poisonous plants were made probably in 1852. Arányi used water-colour technique and pencildrawings coloured by gouche. We can find his own explanation on the pictures. We can meet his principles about anatomical drawing in general on these illustrations: accurate contours, soft tone or plasticity carried out by pencil, and the perspective is from bellow the horizon. The pictures belong to the collection of the Semmelweis Medical Historical Museum. They have been first conservated during the 1970s, and later in 1994.