Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)

Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts (Guide for the Exhibition)

Carl Linne (Linnaeus) (1707-1778), the great Swedish botanist has created 31 a new system for the whole living nature. His introduction of binominal nomenclature (double names) was applied in medicine for designating the diseases. Jean-Baptist de Lamarck (1744-1829) was the first to create a modern theory on the history of development of the living world. Contemporary works of this period which are put on display are the following: Genera Plantarum by Linne published in 1767; Elementa Chemiae by Boerhaave published in 1733; and Lavoisier's "Opuscules Physiques et Chimiques" published in 1810. 2. Medical Theory and Practice in the 18th Century In Hungary there was no medical university between 1526 and 1769 therefore those who wanted to obtain a diploma in medicine were obliged to study abroad. Before the 18th century Italian universities, e. g. the University in Padua, Bologna, etc. had been favoured, but later - as an immediate effect of the Counterreformation - those in Germany, Switzerland and especially in the Netherlands (Leyđeñ, Utrecht, etc.), breathing the free intellectual atmosphere of the Protestants, were in preference. The diploma of Petrus Peetsi (Péter Pécsi) Hungarian medical student from Transylvania granted to him by the Rector of the University in Utrecht marks this "peregrinating" period of Hungarian medicohistory. The Dutch Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738) dominated the field of both theory and practice in 18th century medicine. He taught medicine at Leyđeñ University and lectured almost on every field of medicine, distinguishing himself as "totius Europae praeceptor", the tutor of whole Europe. His scientific works became textbooks on the European universities to be published several times. His great contribution to medicine was the introduction of bedside teaching (teaching at the patient's bedside) and thus clinical medicine became an essential part of medical instruction. One of Boerhaave's pupil was Albrecht Haller (1708-1777), university professor at Göttingen. The station of his career - Tübingen, Leÿden, London, Paris, Basle, Bern - represent the places where the would-be great physicians of the century were supposed to turn up. The great pioneer of physiology, Ha ler, achieved distinction as physician, botanist and poet. We present his work "Primae lineae physiologiae" ('First lines of physiology') published in 1747 where he first maintains that anatomy and physiology cannot be separated from each other. His greatest work, "Elementa physiologiae corporis humani" ('The elements of the physiology of the human body') which appeared between 1757 and 1766 was the bible of physiological research for almost a hundred years.