Læknablaðið - 15.06.1995, Blaðsíða 55

LÆKNABLAÐIÐ 1995; 81
497
the historical objects today. Es-
pecially in ana-historic and anti-
historic period which lasted in
modern medicine from the fif-
ties to some years ago, when
doctors began again to think
about the history of their med-
ical discipline, collections were
in great danger of beeing de-
stroyed and many of them were
thrown away.
Perhaps you will ask me the
question wether it is realy nec-
essary or even possible to keep
all these outdated objects in in-
stitutes and hospitals, where
normally there is a constant lack
of space even for the essential
modern equipment. My answer
would be: No, this is not always
necessary. But there has to be a
possibility to save unique and
historical objects and to create a
permanent exhibitionroom or
even a museum. This might be
within a museum of a city or in
included in a national museum.
For it is necessary to show phy-
sicians and the public how sci-
entific medicine grew from the
roots of an archaic folkmedicine
and why and which way our
modern western medicine was
developed. For it is an essential
part of our culture! This aspect
brings us to the second way of
the question, why museums of
medical history do exist and
should exist in every developed
country, can be answered.
Medicine and all healing profes-
sions are, starting from the very
beginning of our European cul-
ture, very closely connected to
religion, philosophy, social evo-
lution, policies, to art, technol-
ogy and so on. Medicine never
stood alone and was never iso-
lated. The fact that the respon-
sibility for the health of human
beings, for a well organized
public health system was very
important for our high cultural
standards made medicine es-
sential for a highly developed
culture like ours. Therefore it is
quite necessary to show the his-
torical roots of medicine and
the reasons why medical ideas
were increasingly involved in so
many aspects of culture and civ-
ihzation. It is also important to
illustrate how intellectual and
technological processes influen-
ced the scientific development
in medicine in each society.
Therefore museums, where
original testimonies of the de-
velopment of modern medicine
in a historical context, can be
seen and where the great heri-
tage of medicine is exhibited
and presented in a modern mu-
seological way, are not only in-
teresting for insiders but for the
public in general as we have ex-
perienced. And therefore I
would like to point out again the
cultural aspect of the history of
medicine. I will giving you the
example of a museum of med-
ical history, member of the Eu-
ropean Association of Museums
of the History of Medical Sci-
ences, the Museum Nesstofa.
This very particular museum,
still in the period of construc-
tion, is an excellent example for
my statement, that such an in-
stitution shows a lot of the cul-
tural context of your medical
tradition. As you all prove, it
was quite normal and it still is,
that Icelandic medical students
go to universities abroad and
that Icelandic doctors go to
many foreign countries for fur-
ther medical education. This
commemorative day with dele-
gates of countries which are
closely linked to Icelandic med-
ical development underline this
statement. This typical Icelan-
dic situation can be visualized in
the collection of Nesstofa,
which works like a historic mir-
ror in which we see a clear im-
age of Icelandic medicine. The
collection of Nesstofa is paritcu-
lar interesting and unique, be-
cause it consists of a great varie-
ty of items coming from many
countries, where Icelandic doc-
tors brought and bought them.
It looks like a great medical
warehouse of the European
market. I have never seen a col-
lection in Europe, which shows
this really fascinating aspect.
There will be no doubt, that you
all understand the value of such
a museum and that you will help
to enrich the collection and to
establish this institution as a
part of your professional identi-
ty and your part of the history of
Icelandic culture.
I think one of the nicest gifts
you can get on the 75th anni-
versary of your medical associ-
ation is a well contructed and
beautifully arranged museum of
your history of medicine. I will
end my contribution to this cel-
ebration with my warmest re-
gards and with - as Germans
like to do - a quotation of
Goethe who wrote, that only a
person who takes the present
for serious, for important, will
write a chronicle.
Christa Habrich