J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)
D. Karasszon : Gensel and Sydenham
D. Karasszon: Gensel and Sydenham 115 olim juvandos antidotis juvans fati necessitate nondum occupatos" he made a considerable fortune. In 1712 he was appointed first member then co-president of the Academia Imperialis Nature Curiosorum called as Diodorus I. as a recognition of his scientific activity. He was appointed member of the Royal Scientific Society in Berlin in 1714. In 1719 he publishes a report in the Schatzkammer der Natur und Kunst: (p. IX: 314) a case of a mother who has given birth to several children and before labour she consumed spirits and her confinements were almost without any pain. Gensel died after a long illness on 31st August 1720. He left an annuity of 6000 Ft from the interest of his great fortune to the German Academy of Natural Scinces, owing to which the Imperial Scientific Society was able to open a library to the public. A memorial plaque immortalizes the name of the generous benefactor in the entrance hall of the Library in Erfurt (24). The repertoir of Gensel's works can be found in the work of the medicobiographer Weszprémi. Both he and Magyary-Kossa (17) mention Gensel's work entitled "Constitutio epidemica inferioris Hungáriáé an. 1711, 1712, 1713 cum historicis et meteorologicis observationibus" published in the paper "Observationes Ephemeridibus Nat. Cur." edited by the "Academia Imperialis Naturae Curiosorum" which was founded in 1652. They fail to mention, however, that this significant work was included in the Opera of Sydenham. Hungarian epidemiological history has not recorded the detailed data of Gensel's report, either, though it contains important observations on the epidemiological situation in Hungary in the first half of the 18th century. He describes the occurence of variola, morbilli, parotitis, febris tertiana, quartana, intermittens and maligna. He informs us on diarrhoea, rheumatismus, asthma, caries gangrenosa, pleuritis and we learn that in 1711 Gensel —following Sydenham —made exact observations on the relation between climatic factors, natural phenomena (e.g. earth-quake) and diseases. It is noteworthy that according to Linzbauer (16) medical officers were supposed to report on meteorological conditions systematically only from 1799 onwards —to the Council of Governor General. Special attention should be paid to the fact that Gensel's report on the epidemiological situation in 1712 contains also the description of the disease which broke out among the cattle.* * "Augusto. .. strages pecorum invalescebat, corripiebantur scilicet certis pustulis albicantibus cum anhelitu difficili, quibus diflectis materia purulenta mephitim spiráns effluxit, ex faucibus quoque foetor morticinus intolerabilis, ad aliquot sensibilis passus prodiit, cumque maximis boatibus crepuerunt, in ventriculo reperti fųerųn certi globi magnitudinis nucis majores, repleti pilis tunica membranosa dura aciem vix non eludente instructi; ferae quoque omnis generis ad Somogy ic copia periere, et in memoribus passim a rusticis repertae fuere, canes ex voratione tam illarum ferarum, quam pecorum praedictorum rabidi facti, a quorum morsu homines in phrenitidem inciderunt ac hydrophobiam, latratum etiam et rabiem imitati canum, morsibus in adstantes saevire tristi cum spectaculo coeperunt, imo aliqui remeđiųm laturi aceto et sale ora rabidorum pecorum lavando, rabiem contraxerunt ab illo venenato miasmate, id quod Ma ĥi¤lųs Comment, ad L.6.C.36. Diosc. observavit: multae nihilominus bestiae rabidae servatae fuere, data statim in principio fuligine cum cupro vel orichalco raso pulverisato. .." etc.
