Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 188-189. (Budapest, 2004)
KÖZLEMÉNYEK - COMMUNICATIONS - Koltay Erika: History of alternative medicine in Hungary in 19th and early 20th century. - Az alternatív orvoslás története Magyarországon a 19. és a korai 20. században
Life reformer trends In these schools of thought the emphasis is not on the therapeutic techniques, yet they deserve being mentioned when surveying the history of alternative medicine, because these techniques aim at preserving health or, in case of some illness, at curing it by means of a natural mode of living. One of these approaches covering life as a whole was mazdaznan: its meaning in the Zend language is "master thought", and its philosophy is based on the teachings of Zarathustra (called Zoroaszter in Greek), the prophet of the Parsi belief. (Messer 1928:74) The spreading of the mazdaznan philosophy of life in the early 20th century is connected to the name of Otoman Zar-Adust Hanish (1844-1936) who avowed himself to be a prophet of the Zoroastrian religion. He appeared in America in the early 1900s, but his doctrines rapidly spread to Germany, Austria and Hungary, too. In 1911 Hanish had a tour in Germany and, according to certain sources, he also visited Hungary in August, 1925, but no reliable data have been found in connection with that so far. (Mazdaznan 1912) The school had a periodical Vital Force - Mazdaznan. We can see from its available volumes that it may have been published with irregular intervals. Its first number was published in 1912 in Temesvár, and then it was published in 1925 and in 1928. In the early 1940s, however, a series was published consisting of 11 volumes giving information for everyday people about self-diagnostics, beauty care, the mazdaznan therapeutic breathing, the mazdaznan nutrition, etc. Today it has appeared again among the natural healing methods, but not as a whole doctrine, just in form of a special diet. Bicsérdism became known after the name of Béla Bicsérdy (1980-1951), who was considered the prophet of raw food diet in Europe. Bicsérdism, however, meant more than raw food diet, because it demanded a belief and conviction that a reformed mode of living will prolong one's life and free the people from diseases. He considered fasting, eating raw vegetables essential elements of his teaching, he forbade the consumption of alcoholic drinks, smoking, and he encouraged staying outdoors, bathing and doing exercises. (Soós 1926:33) Prior to Bicsérdy, the primary school teacher Kálmán Németi had similar views in 1899: his acquaintances and relatives considered him a "fool" for his ideas. He wrote two books about raw food diet, but his activities did not attract any considerable interest. (Szalay 1968:394) Bicsérdy's book, however, which, as a whole, was inspired by the mazdaznan philosophy, had great success. The author compares his own activities to that of the Zoroastrian Zend Av esta, and even goes further than that, because he produces evidence concerning the question of eternal life. (Bicsérdy 1938:7) The periodical of the school of thought was first published in 1925 in Petrozsény with the title On behalf of mankind, and later under the title Bicsérdism. In fact, this school of thoughts was started in Transylvania and it had the greatest number of followers there. The trend was only in its early phase of spreading in Hungary and in other European countries, whereas according to the estimations, in 1925-1926 there were already 120-150 thousand followers of bicsérdism in Transylvania. (Soós 1926:33) Furthermore, several Transylvanian towns refer to the existence of bicsérdist associations. In Hungary the first bicsérdist vegetarian association was formed in 1926. According to the data given by Kneipp Papers, there had already existed a vegetarian association earlier in Budapest called Hungarian National Vegetarian Association: its aim was, among others,
