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)

G. Buzinkayt Hungarians on Great Britain, 1620—1848. (Observations on English Education and Public Health in Hungarian Travelogues)

ioo Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 6.) case of other travellers

—he did not give a detailed report on his travels and experiences, either. In his Succincta he remarks only that from Holland ".. .he sailed to England twice, went to Oxford and Cambridge, burrowed into the public libraries of the universities and the private libraries of the colleges

: He stayed in London, the royal residence, for one and a half years, he went in for each branch of medical science, anatomy, surgery, chemistry, botanies, etc. He was concerned about obstetrics in theory and practice, kept on visiting the public hospitals

; St. Thomas' Hospital, St. George's Hospital, the hospital named after the Prince of Cumberland ; the London Hospital, and the house for small-pox vaccination"

.

28 The dedication of his work Tentamen de inoculanda peste

2

9 and certain headwords of the Succincta reveal some of his experiences in England. In connection with András Ajtai he wrote e.g.: "As he knew well what medicine owes to the English, he decided to go to their holy island, blessed by nature and science

.. . ".

3

0 ENGLISH EDUCATION WITH HUNGARIAN EYES The most significant Hungarian non-medical memoirists have given us several descriptions referring to English education and public health

—both in the narrow and wider sense of the word. Since each traveller aimed to render an overall picture of the English nation, allusions to the question of education as a whole were not left out. János Zigán adopted an English work in Hungarian —as the title-page of his book shows

—nevertheless its great spirit and passionate tone make it more than a mere adoptation.

3

1 He said the following: "The taste of the English in gardening and education seems very similar. They like nature and it is nature's way that they assist here and there, and they are unwilling to allow it to be spoiled by man's craft

. And the same is the reason that Englishmen come closest to man's dignity and mission. Their system of education is free and easy, it is without any compulsion and it encourages free and matter-of-fact thinking which is so familiar with the English",

3

2 2

8 Weszprémi, op. cit. Vol. I. pp. 407—409. 2

9 Weszprémi, Stephanųs

: Tentamen de inoculanda peste. Londini, 1750. The dedication of the volume reads as follows: "Grauissimis, Eruditissimisque VIRIS D

. Rev. IOAN. IAC

. MAIENDIE, S. S. TheoŁ Doct. et Canonico SalisburiensL D. Rev. ANDREAE PLANTA, M. A. et Prof. Mathem. nec non Eççl. Teutonicae V. D. M. ITEM Dn. IOANNI ANDREE, M. D. Dn. IACOBO HIBBINSIO, M. D. Dn. IOANNI SILVESTRO, M. D. Triumuiris in arte medica experientissimis, Infirmarii publici Londinensis Practicis Medicis. Dn. MICHAELI MORRIS ¤

, M. D. Chymiae Professori exercitatissimo

. Singulis vero Fautoribus singulari obseruantia colendis in significationem grati animi offert Auçtor

." 3

0 Weszprémi, Succincta, op. cit. Vol. II. p. 27., As to the English relations of Weszprémi see the study of R. Harkó, V. and Vida, T. in this volume. The manuscript of V

. R. Harkó on the history of English — Hungarian Medical relationships until 1800 is going be published in our Communicationes in 1973. (The editor). 3

1 The title-page of the book reads as follows: "According to the work of D. Wendeborn Gebhard Friderik Ágoston, preacher from London, summarized shortly by János Zigán." 3

2 Zigán, op. cit. 70.