Professional paper
DEVELOPMENT OF VETERINARY MEDICINE IN CROATIA
Vesna Vučevac Bajt
; Veterinaski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Veterinary medicine in Croatia had its early beginnings in the Middle Ages, when the first decrees on hygiene regulations, issued by autonomous city administrations, were adopted. The first regulations on general measures aimed at preventing the incidence and spread of rabies date from the same period. The oldest veterinary medical work titled «Delli remedi alle malatie de caualli» (On treating diseases in horses) dates from 1526. A rapid development of veterinary medicine in Croatia occurred only in the 18th century, in the period of the Enlightenment, when cattlebreeding and veterinary service were improved and common people were given an opportunity to be educated. Unfavourable epizootic circumstances stimulated the development of veterinary legislation; the first veterinary law was enacted in 1787. The Croatian and Slavonian Economic Society (1841) and the Croatian and Slavonian Veterinary Society (1893) contributed significantly to the development of cattle-breeding and veterinary service, helping the self-organisation of the veterinary profession. In 1886, the Horseshoeing School, a predecessor of the High School of Veterinary Medicine, was founded.
Significant changes in the organisation and significance of the veterinary service in Croatia took place in the 19th century particularly after, the Act on Organisation of Veterinary Service in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia (1888) had been passed. The publication of veterinary literature played a significant role in fighting infectious diseases. Many veterinary books were translations from other languages. The first original veterinary medical text-books in Croatian were written in the second half of the 19th century. The author was professor Josip Ubl, who went down in the history of Croatian veterinary medicine as founder of Croatian veterinary medical terminology. A decision of the Croatian government, by which the national Bacteriological Institute was established in Križevci in 1901 – only 13 years after Pasteur's institute in Paris - was of utmost importance for further development of veterinary medicine. The most important event in the history of veterinary medicine was the establishment of the High School of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb in 1919, which evolved into the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1924. In the period after the second world war, veterinary service underwent considerable change: veterinary medical stations with veterinary clinics as their integral parts became fundamental organisational units. By fully completing their primary task in the protection of the lifestock number and particularly in fighting cattle infections, veterinary stations laid a strong foundation both for the veterinary service of Croatia to be among the leading services in Europe and for the political and economic transition which took place at the beginning of 1990s.
Keywords
Development of veterinary medicine; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
26999
URI
Publication date:
10.3.2008.
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