Szemészet, 2004 (141. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2004-06-01 / 2. szám
Szemészet ■■ 141. évfolyam (2004) 185 100 years of the Hungarian Ophthalmological Society Magdolna Zajácz Introduction The writing of a centennial history of the Hungarian Ophthalmological Society is no trivial task. It is made somewhat lighter however by the fact that the Society has always worked in close collaboration with the Hungarian profession’s journal “Szemészet” (“Ophthalmology”); indeed, the Society’s executive committee has on several occasions declared this publication to be the official journal of the Society. As a basic mode of procedure then, I read through the volumes of this journal for the most recent 100 years. I also enquired of colleagues in leading positions regarding events which they considered significant; but regrettably this brought meagre results. Therefore I relied principally on the news published in “Szemészet”, and on the Society’s official minutes of its meetings. Here I should perhaps remark that the value and accuracy of the recorded items have varied rather widely over the course of the years. This was influenced by a number of factors, such as the policies of the leadership, the competence of the minutes secretary, and the information needs of the members. It depended also on the financial resources and circumstances of the Journal at the relevant time. Among the personal news, I often mention selected birthdays and obituaries. In the case of honours and awards, I adopted the policy of mentioning only the professional (ophthalmological) ones, omitting references to, for example, state decorations. The latter type were in any case only rarely mentioned in the journal, and therefore this seemed the most fair and consistent practice. Naturally I have not been able to read through every single article published in “Szemészet” over the last 100 years. Nevertheless the reader will find that I have judged some articles worthy of special mention, or even of extended quotation. I admit of course that this selection process must inevitably be subjective; this subjectivity however has not been unduly influenced by personal preferences. My aim throughout has been to characterise the given era of ophthalmology in Hungary, and its relationship to developments elsewhere. In this connection, certain political references will be found in the text. These are few in number; but have a valid place, since the overall direction of development, Hungarian ophthalmology, and even the work of the individual doctor, were all influenced by the contemporary political scene. I perhaps ought to explain why I have divided the text into chronological 5-10 year periods. This is because it is inappropriate to deal with events strictly chronologically, especially since developments in many cases extend over a number of years. At the same time (with few exceptions) I have chosen not to burden the text with exact references to volume numbers, page numbers, etc. of the source. By the given arrangement however, the interested reader will be able to locate a given item without an unreasonable amount of effort, by referring to the published volumes for the years concerned. Finally, I apologise in advance to readers who may feel that they themselves are not given due prominence in the text. This is due to practical limitations of time and the allotted space available, as well as the fact that I was constrained by the limitations of my source materials. The history of the Society, from its foundation to the present day Initial foundation On the opening page of Issue no. 1 of the year 1904 (Volume 41), the editor of the journal “Szemészet” (“Ophthalmology”) published “A call for the foundation of an ophthalmological association for Hungary”. The motivation for this was expressed as follows: “Every civilised nation already has its ophthalmological association. It may be that, in our country, there are but a few who concern themselves exclusively with the cultivation of ophthalmology; but there is thereby all the greater need for our working in co-operation and for the provision of mutual support.” It continued: “In 1883, when the French ophthalmological association came into being, it used as its model the constitution of the Heidelberg association founded by Graefe... We too commend as a basic foundation the organisational structure of that society. We hope that the democratic organisation principle will make it possible for us to unite to achieve our scientific, social, and patriotic objectives.” As a result of this call, at Whitsun 1904 an assembly of 30 ophthalmologists was held, with the object of forming a scientific ophthalmological association. The meeting adopted a draft constitution and appointed an administrative committee of 9 members, under the chairmanship of László Blaskovics. In accordance with the laws of that time, the Constitution had to receive the approval of the Minister for Home Affairs; and he in turn proposed certain slight modifications. This occasioned a minor delay, and so the business was finally endorsed only at a meeting held on 18 December 1904. At that same meeting, the editor of “Szemészet” announced that the journal was prepared to publish, in full, the records of future Association administrative sessions and scientific meetings. Furthermore, the editor of the journal “Zeitschrift für Augen-Magdolna Zajácz: 100 years of the Hungarian Ophthalmological Society
