Læknablaðið - 15.06.1995, Blaðsíða 54

496
LÆKNABLAÐIÐ 1995; 81
Museums of Medical History
Why do they exist?
Einn erlendra gesta sem heiðraði Lækna-
félag íslands á 75 ára afmælishátíðinni í
september 1993 var doktor Christa Ha-
brich, en hún gegnir prófessorsstöðu í
sögu læknis- og lyfjafræði við háskólann í
Miinchen.
í tilefni 15. norræna þingsins um sögu
læknisfræðinnar sem haldið verður í
Reykjavík og Reykholti dagana 21.-24.
júní næstkomandi birtum við hér ræðu
Christu Habrich frá afmælishátíð LÍ.
First of all I would like to
thank you for the kind invita-
tion to the 75th anniversary of
the Icelandic Medical Associ-
ation. It is a pleasure and an
honour for me to speak at this
commemorating ceremony.
Your desire to have a look on
an historical subject while cele-
brating this event, shows, that
you have close links to the histo-
ry in general and to the history
of your country, your old cul-
ture and your profession. This is
quite remarkable, because
modern physicians often forget,
that they think and act on the
shoulders of those men, who in-
vestigated scientific medicine
many centuries ago.
To the honour of a man, who
gave an important impulse to
Icelandic medical museology,
Professor Jón Steffensen, I ded-
icate my lecture.
The questions, why do mu-
seums of medical history exist,
can be answered in two differ-
ent ways: First of all, there are
collections of medical objects
found in Italy, in France, Great
Britain, in the Netherlands,
even in some places in Germa-
ny, consisting of the remains of
old collections of medical in-
struments, equipment and ap-
paratus used as didactic materi-
al for the training of students at
universities or surgical acade-
mies. These collections of ana-
tomical preparations and path-
ological specimens, physiolog-
ical apparatus or surgical
instruments, which could be
saved, form the basis of the first
type of museums, joined to-
gether in the European Associ-
ation of Museums ofthe History
of Medical Sciences. They got
the great advantage to have at
their disposal a historically
grown stock. A very good ex-
ample of such a collection is the
marvellous collection of wax
models, made by Felice Fonta-
na in Florence in the second half
of the 18th century and bought
for the academy of surgeons in
Vienna in 1786 by the Emperor
Joseph II, the great enlightened
reformer who even reformed
medicine in Austria. When ever
you stay for some time in Vien-
na, don’t forget to visit the fa-
mous Josephinum where this
collection is still exhibited to-
day.
The development of scientific
medicine depended since the
Renaissence on good and well
systematically arranged collec-
tions and the medical faculties
of each university spent a lot of
money for the foundation and
conservation of their collec-
tions. But - with the introduc-
tion of modern techniques and
media for documentation, in-
formation and communication
in science — like for example
photographic and electronic
methods, the traditional collec-
tions became more and more
neglected, and were even aban-
doned and abolished. Many
keepers of modern medical mu-
seums can tell you horror sto-
ries about the fate of their col-
lection in the past and the prob-
lems of saving and protecting