Szemészet, 2004 (141. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2004-06-01 / 2. szám

141. évfolyam (2004)

The 1913 general meeting, the 9th, was therefore held in the autumn. At this meeting, two points worthy of special mention were raised. Firstly, the Executive Committee imposed a duty on the chairman to keep strict control of the allotted time for each lecture. This had previously not been regulated; and in view of the sometimes rather excessive length of the printed text, which in certain cases extends to 10 or even 15 pages, we can only hope that the lecture itself was actually delivered in abbreviated form. It seems that moderation was not the predominant character-trait of every member, and this made the new strict rule necessary.

The other noteworthy point, raised by Miksa Rosenfeld, was a proposal that opticians should be permitted to practise only if they had received appropriate training. This was not at the time a requirement. He further proposed that the details of the curriculum of such a training course should be made subject to the approval of the Association leadership.

The year 1914 marked another jubilee, namely the 10th anniversary of the Association. During the initial years there had been in all 9 keynote lectures, 86 lectures, and 70 case presentations. The membership had by now increased to 105. Here we may pause to note some significant achievements, many of which surely would not have occurred in the absence of the professional society.

1. Institution of a series of memorial lectures dedicated to Vilmos Schulek.

2. Introduction of an obligatory ophthalmic practice period for newly-qualified physicians.

3. Setting up of the committee for obtaining national statistics on blindness. (Although unfortunately, for reasons beyond the Association’s control, the practical results were disappointing.)

4. Introduction of compulsory prophylaxis against eye-infection in newborn babies, using the Credé method.

5. Introduction of a proposal for regulation of the training of opticians.

6. Establishment of international links. The Association sent abstracts of its scientific sessions and lectures to German, French, English, and American ophthalmic journals; and in most cases these were published.

Another significant social innovation dating from 1914 is the proposal for the provision of special education for visually-handicapped children. A special committee to elaborate this concept was formed, under the chairmanship of Adolf Szily.

The Executive Committee resolved to undertake the organisation in Budapest of the XIII. International Ophthalmology Congress, which was scheduled for 1919. This long-term plan was however soon brought to nothing, because of the events of the First World War.

War years

Because of the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Association’s scientific activities had to temporarily cease. The journal “Szemészet” also suspended publication. After a gap of two years however, on 13 August 1916, a special edition appeared as a supplement to Issue no. 33/1916 of the “Orvosi Hetilap” (“Medical Weekly”). The Association had convened a socalled “Wartime Congress” on 11 June 1916 (Whit Sunday), and the Congress proceedings were reported in this issue. The account was compiled by Imre Bartók.

The opening session of the 1916 Congress was graced by the presence of Her Highness the Archduchess Augusta, accompanied by one of her Ladies-in-Waiting. Archduke Joseph was represented by the Baron Révay, Deputy Master of the Court Protocol. The guests were received by Emil Grósz at the entrance to the building. The opening session almost had the character of a political and military ceremonial, since further participants included the Lord Mayor of Budapest, the military commander of Budapest, high-ranking officers, and army physicians. Several diplomats and university professors also attended. Of course, almost all the members of the Hungarian ophthalmic profession were also present.

After the address by Emil Grósz and several other addresses of welcome and greetings, the professional conference began. Lectures were given by foreign and Hungarian speakers. A particular attraction was an exhibition of modern ophthalmic instruments, together with documents illustrating older ones. There was an opportunity to tour various ophthalmic departments. The evening was enlivened by a social programme including receptions and concerts.

Day to day affairs however were at this period uniformly marked by difficulties. For example, at the 1st Department of Ophthalmology, during three years of the war (1915-1917) the Clinic had to cope with a serious staff shortage, since 8 doctors were called-up for military service. At the same time the number of beds was considerably increased, from 80 to 100; sixty of the beds were reserved for soldiers. Those staff who did not join the army still had to serve as medical consultants in military hospitals. There were also conferences and further-training on field-surgery techniques.

On 16 June 1918, “Szemészet” published a special issue. This dealt mainly with experience and advice relating to war injuries, and also gave a description of the operation of individual ophthalmic departments. In 1919 the journal published only one short issue, containing just 3 articles. The main topic was still war-related injuries, their treatment and outcomes. Olga Szántó wrote a detailed account of the activities of the 1st Ophthalmology Clinic in the above regard. In 1918, 1061 patients had become blind in one eye, and 144 blind in both eyes. The number of enucleations was 615.

An era of progress: 1920-1930

The first scientific session after the end of the War took place on 8 January 1922. The programme consisted of lectures, and 4 case-presentations.

100 YEARS OF THE HUNGARIAN OPHTHALMOLOGICAL SOCIETY