J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary. Presented to the XXII. International Congress for the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 4. (Budapest, 1970)
ESSAYS-LECTURES - Gy. Regöly-Mérei: Paleopathological Examination of Skeletal Finds in the Roman Period and Description of Diseases in Greek and Roman Medical Texts (in English)
PALEOPATHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF SKELETAL FINDS IN THE ROMAN PERIOD AND DESCRIPTION OF DISEASES IN GREEK AND ROMAN MEDICAL TEXTS by GYULA REGÖLY-MÉREI AIM OF THE INVESTIGATIONS. SUMMARY OF THE PALEOPATHOLOGICALLY EXAMINED MATERIAL ACCORDING TO FINDS T^\iseases are naturally older than their description. In ancient medical works we often find signs or syndroms, even conclusions from which we might deduct a certain medical knowledge. This however can involve the danger of anacronism. In examining the antiquity of diseases paleopathological finds can be of use. In the course of time some diagnosis have disappeared (f.i. "English sweating") at others in point of view of geographical pathology new diseases have arisen, as f.i. the syphilis in Europe in the post-Columbian times. This is a question of great importance all the more as Hacket in his recent examination (1936, 1947 and WHO 1963) has found a close connection between yaws, the "endemic syphilis" occuring in regions with a warm climate and veneral syphilis; accordingly to him this treponematoses of identical origin has changed on the influence of climate and other conditions. Civilisation, urbanization even iatrogen effect have produced new diagnoses. The outward picture of the diseases have changed in the course of time, an example for this is the pathomorphosis of osteomyelitis. To all these—within a certain limit—paleopathological examinations can give an answer just as from such findings we can collect data for the life conditions of the onetime population (f.i. injuries, tuberculosis, rickets, frequency of caries etc.). In the time of the Roman Empire the province named after God Pan was situated in the region of today's Hungary. On the world scale relatively few paleopathological finds were published from the Roman period and so it is probable that these Hungarian finds can count on interest. I have also had occasion to compare some of the descriptions of diseases by Hippocrates , Celsus, Sorañųs, Galenus, Aretaeus, Aetius, Alexandros and Paulus with the changes found in the course of the paleopathological examinations. The material of my examinations originates from the environments of Pécs, this town was called Sopianae and was the capital of the Province Pannónia Inferior. Some of the 34 cases examined I have published previously [19, 20] but it seems right not to disregard them in this summary for the sake of entirety and because the sum of my results can serve as comparison to those of Gáspárđÿ$ 55
