Acta Medico-Historica Adriatica最新文献

Prikaz knjige/ Book review

The article outlines the history of Polish pharmacy museums in the broader European context. The first efforts to establish such an institution date back to the second half of the 19th century, when, despite the lack of a Polish sovereign state, Polish pharmacists, passionate about their trade, called for the creation of a pharmacy museum. Their continued efforts faced multiple obstacles, with the two World Wars being the worst of them. During the inter-war period, multiple collections were assembled, but the first Polish museum of pharmacy was established only after the Second World War, in 1946, in Kraków, thanks to Dr Stanisław Proń. In the 1970s, a number of smaller museums were established in other Polish cities, including Lublin, Warsaw, Poznań, Bydgoszcz, and Gdańsk. The transformation following the collapse of the Iron Curtain caused a temporary crisis for pharmacy museums in Poland, with some establishments being liquidated due to the withdrawal of funding. However, soon after Polish society became accustomed to the new realities, a number of museums were restored, and even new ones were established, some as part of municipal museums (Warszawa, Bydgoszcz), some within universities, and some even funded by private companies (Lublin, Łódź). The article illustrates the richness and distinctiveness of the field of Polish pharmaceutical museology, while also observing its connection to wider European realities.

Prikaz skupa/ Scientific meeting review

The first reports about the pharmacy in Cres date back to the 15th century. As early as 1431, the mayor of Cres dealt with the issue of procuring medicines, and from the end of the century until modern times, the minutes of the Cres Municipal Council discuss obtaining pharmacy licenses, as well as pharmacists’ salaries and disputes. For a long time, pharmacists were immigrants from Istria and Italy who would stay in Cres for a shorter or longer period. As a result, from the 19th century, pharmacy was settled in the hands of the Colombis and Rossi families. After the Second World War, Ljekarna Cres became part of the Rijeka company Ljekarna Jadran.Analysing sources and literature, this contribution aims to shed light on the rich yet insufficiently known history of a profession that simultaneously reveals no less interesting fragments of everyday life and culture in Cres.

Ancient Egypt refers to the area along the Nile River where the Ancient Egyptian civilisation developed. As a state creation, Egypt was the place of many firsts, including architecture, art, economy, and science. Over time, within the priestly class in Egypt, priests began to appear who devoted their lives to different sciences, primarily astronomy, astrology, but also medicine. Ancient Egyptian medicine will be the focus of this paper, together with the diagnostic procedures, methods, and different ways of treating bone fractures, which will all be presented in more detail throughout the paper. Despite the fact that the paper will discuss extremely old historical periods, sources for this topic can be found in ancient Egyptian papyri that have survived to the present day. This is why the Edwin-Smith Papyrus, which is a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian medical science, should be highlighted. Also, since the Egyptian religion was deeply ingrained in Egyptian society, it should not be surprising that numerous medical procedures and remedies can be found in the magical texts/incantations that the ancient priests would recite during the process of treating a patient. This paper will first briefly present ancient Egyptian medicine in general, then its close connection with religion and magic, and finally, the diagnostics, methods, and interventions used by ancient doctors to treat bone fractures of their patients as described in the Edwin-Smith Papyrus.

Purgatory is a relatively recent theological innovation in the geography of the otherworld. It was associated with a different vision of death centred on the fear of bodily corruption and body-soul dialogue, and a distinctive attitude towards the macabre. Since its affirmation, Purgatory appeared as an in-between, transitory dimension closely connected with the earth, where purging souls were allowed to dialogue with the living, as if they could prolong their earthly life there. Combining pain with the wait for liberation in Heaven, Purgatory was therefore an intermediate place of both suffering and hope for the coveted bliss. The settlement of Purgatory had the effect of reducing the fear of eternal damnation, and therefore, the terror of Hell was replaced by that of one's own death and the consequent decomposition of one's body. The cult of Purgatory spread in the 17th century, based on the possibility of relieving the suffering of the dead through the suffrages of the living. This article is about the beliefs, themes, and customs related to Purgatory, focusing above all on the numerous pieces of evidence coming from Naples, where the worship of Purgatory was particularly intense and took on peculiar characteristics. An attempt is made to analyse the most popular aspects of the cult and the testimonies concerning it, which today remain represented by persistent traces of the cult of the skulls, the presence of urban votive shrines, and modern funerary practices based on double burial.

This paper presents the public health work of Dr Avelin Roblek (1845–1889) through his professional path as a city physician in Bjelovar and Ljubljana, within the framework of medicine in our region at the end of the 19th century. Dr Roblek graduated from the medical faculty in Graz in 1874, after which he worked in Ljubljana and for three years in Litija. From 1882 to 1888, he served as the city physician and primary physician of the county hospital in Bjelovar and then, until his untimely death, the city physician in Ljubljana. The functions of the city physician in the second half of the 19th century in the then Austrian Empire were mostly public health: anti-epidemic measures, vaccinations, examinations and sanitary inspections of living conditions, control of prostitutes, coroners, and forensic autopsies, and control of the work of midwives and coroners. Dr Roblek regularly reported on the functions and the measures he implemented to the city magistrates in Bjelovar and Ljubljana. He died in Ljubljana after contracting a disease while performing his work as a physician.

Guest Editorial

In the second half of the 18th century, a new awareness in education started to rise, placing greater importance on veterinary science. We are talking about a hundred years of history. Antonio Campana and Tommaso Bonaccioli, grandsons of Barbara Campana, were the creators of the Veterinary School of Ferrara in their own right. Among the teachers, we especially remember the first, Luigi Le Roy of the Lyon school. This Veterinary School, founded in 1762, was the place to train teachers for the upcoming schools around Europe. Antonio Campana was an eclectic scientist who also stood out in this discipline. Tommaso Bonaccioli, who studied at the School of Milan during the Napoleonic era, was highly regarded among foreign researchers for being a pioneer in this field. This can be proven by numerous publications and lectures at the Academy of Sciences in Ferrara, where he also served as president. His collaborators were able to keep the highest standards by continuing the founder's work. Unfortunately, despite the appreciation of the students, the Veterinary School of Ferrara was closed in 1880 due to a lack of funding. The search for unpublished original documentation was conducted in the Historical Archives (Municipal, Ariostea Municipal Library, Academy of Sciences and University of Ferrara).

This article presents the development of psychiatric thought during the long nineteenth century in Europe and Croatia, where the development of the classification of personality disorders is presented in more detail. This diagnostic category is on the border between mentally healthy and ill, which most vividly opens essential questions in psychiatric science. These questions were and remain the subject of scientific research in psychiatry, and they gained their foundations and momentum in the long nineteenth century, which is reflected in the fruitful activity of a large number of doctors and scientists of that time, from France, England, through Italy to Austria and Germany. The article also shows the contribution of Croatian doctors, especially Dr. Ivo Žirovčić, as the long-term director of the first psychiatric hospital in Croatia, in laying the foundations of Croatian psychiatry, the development of which was belatedly, but greatly accelerated by the opening of the Institute for the Mentally Ill in Stenjevac, today’s University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče.