Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 18-19. (Budapest, 2000)
Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts - Guide to the Exhibition
The combination of the beliefs in unknown, mystical forces with practical experiences, based on the observations of daily life, is not only characteristic in the medicine of prehistoric man but remained a typical feature of the uneducated masses as well. Oral tradition performed the connection in handing over both of these components from one generation to the next. The beliefs in supernatural powers appeared under the guises of various religions during the history of mankind. Folk medicine has been rooted in traditions. It has petrified its convictions, contents and practice for centuries. The so-called votive statuettes are good examples of these ideas. They were placed on the altar of the 'deity' on behalf of the sick in order to seek his remedy. The votive statuettes were later callcd offers. We have presented a series of these offers made in the 18th century together with the wooden moulds (No. 13 and 14) that were used for shaping the figures, namely one for a denture, an eye, a hand, a child etc. The offer representing a pig must have been offered at times of epizootics. The statuettes were usually made of gold or silver for the better off and of wax sometimes of wood for the poor. They were usually on sale at parish-feasts. Next to the double crosscs and coins, which were supposed to have protective power against plague, there are special Transylvanian pitchcrs (No. 18) in the show-case. Each of them is decorated with the picture of a saint who may protect against certain diseases (e.g. Saint Rochus, Saint Barbara). In the show-ease various instruments of folk medicine arc also placed. A simple extracting forceps (No. 8), used by peasants in Bihar county (Eastern Hungary), a cataract knife for extraction from Hajdú county (No. 7), and a feeding cup (No.5) are exhibited. A special one is the carved candle stick, forming the upper female body, from Győr county (No.4). It was placed beside the bed of a parturient until the delivery was in progress. Beside the show-case there is a votive picture from Upper-Hungary, the so callcd Sasvári Pieta, surrounded with offers, and sick arms and legs made in the 18th c. Beside the show-case there is the enlarged photo of an engraving representing Cell (now Celldömölk), a miraculous holy placc that was rather popular in the 18th century. 2. The development of natural sciences Talking about the development of medicine and pharmacy in the 18th century we should start with the progress in chemistry. Chemistry, in the modern sense of the word, was born out of the chcmical knowledge of the ancients lost in the mists of time. Then came the period of alchemy, the secret science, which, according to some scholars, spread away triumphantly from China, or reached Europe directly from Egypt as others suggest. Iatro-chemistry i.e. medical chcmistry, which was created in the Renaissance and developed parallel with alchemy, camc to be more and more prominent. From the middle of the 17th century until the last quarter of 48
