Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)
Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts (Guide for the Exhibition)
tocrats, but these grants involved the obligation of returning to serve one's patron after finishing the studies. The University of the Jesuits in Nagyszombat (today Trnava, Czechoslovakia) was founded by Péter Pázmány in 1635. At that time it had no medical faculty. The wish of opening a medical faculty at the University of Nagyszombat was first expressed by the members of the Diet in 1723. János Perliçzi (1705-1778) submitted the same request to Maria Theresa but it was not granted. The medical faculty of Nagyszombat University was founded at the advice and intercession of Gerard van Szoieten, the "medical reformer of the Austrian Empire". The supreme document which ordered the teaching of medicine dates from 7 November 1769. This day means a mile-stone in the history of medical teaching in Hungary. Owing to circumstances hindering modern teaching - few patients, restrictions on autopsies - the University moved to Buda in 1777 and then to its final place in Pest in 1784, where it is still functioning. The history of the foundation of the Hungarian medical faculty is presented in a separate show-case. (Fig. 45.). The original coloured engraving of Georg Hoefnagel (1542-1600) represents the episcopal town of Nagyszombat at the (in Latin: Tyrnavia), end of the 16th century. In the middle of the show-case there is the medical diploma of István Łųmñitzer (1747-1806), the first member of a noted dynasty of physicians, received in 1777 in the University of Nagyszombat. (Fig. 46.). Furthermore one can see a miniature with his portrait (Fig. 47.) and his dissertation. Next to the memorial plaques (Fig. 48.) there are works of the famous physicians of the age: Van Szoieten , Pieñck, Trnka, Ha ler, Csapó, etc. on show. Around the show-case there are portraits of famous physicians: Vencel Trnka (1739-1791), professor at the University of Nagyszombat from 1770 onwards and rector of the University of Pest in 1786/87; Sámuel Pataki (17651824), chief medical officer of Transylvania, who was the first to perform small-pox vaccination at Kolozsvár (today Cluj, Rumania); Samuel Rácz (1774-1806) professor of physiology at the universities of Buda and Pest, the pioneer of medical teaching in the Hungarian language. A remarkable engraving by an unknown master represents the visit of King Francis /. (1792-1836) to the military hospital at Lugos in 1789. This is the only representation of a contemporary hospital in Hungary from inside that has come down to us and this explains its medico-historical value. The most beautiful piece of the precious anatomical collection of the museum is the life-size female wax-figure (moulage), a present from King Joseph II (1780-1790) to the medical faculty of the University of Pest in 1789 - together with some other wax figures in order to promote medical teaching in Hungary. The wax figure was made by Felice Fontana (1730-1802), the learned abbot,
