Pregledni rad
DR LUJO THALLER: FROM SORCERER AND WIZARD TO MODERN PHYSICIAN, ZAGREB, 1938 – A SIGNIFICANT YEAR FOR CROATIAN MEDICAL LITERATURE
Mirko Jamnicki Dojmi
Sažetak
In 2008, it will be 70 years from the publication of our first comprehensive world history of
medicine by one of the most outstanding Croatian physicians from the first half of the 20th
century. Namely, in 1938, publisher Minerva issued a book by Dr Lujo Thaller Od vrača
i čarobnjaka do modernog liječnika (From Medicine Man to Modern Physician). It was a
first-class event, not only for medical science, but also for the general culture of Croatia. Dr
Lujo Thaller, specialist in internal medicine, can be taken as a model historian of medicine.
His work and writing, however different they may seem at first sight, have turned out to be
an excellent blend. Dr Thaller has marked an era in Croatian history of medicine, raising it
from an incidental and amateur affair to an independent academic discipline, and giving it
the dignity of a serious scientific profession, equal to other branches of medicine.
The book Od vrača i čarobnjaka do modernog liječnika (From Medicine Man to Modern
Physician) synthesizes enormous knowledge; it is the crown of Thaller’s erudition, and, as
Vladimir Bazala aptly put it, this book “speaks, in fact, about the history of human culture
from the medical point of view”. The book is also the history of human destiny, opposition
to nature, disease, pain, ageing, and death. It is a story of numerous great men in medicine
and their discoveries, of human wisdom, goodness, charity, and sacrifice. Even today, this
massive work has not lost its vigour and credibility, thanks to the author’s narrative skill in
presenting his encyclopaedic knowledge. In an impressive story on over 360 pages he inter-weaves science, art, politics, philosophy, and religion of individual historical ages , starting
from prehistory up to the unsurpassed discoveries of the twentieth century medical science.
When issued, the book was an appropriate and relevant compendium of history of medicine
, and it certainly could have served as the first textbook of the kind, had history of medicine
taken its rightful place in the medical curriculum in Croatia.
What makes Thaller a modern author is his holistic approach to issues. He sought to show
the interrelatedness of cultural, sociological, philosophical and religious factors that conditioned
the development of culture and medicine, and paved the way for other Croatian
researchers of the history of medicine.
Ključne riječi
history of medicine; 20th century; medical literature; Lujo Thaller; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
101676
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2007.
Posjeta: 1.910 *