ABOUT THE BEGINNINGS OF ORGANISED EDUCATION IN OBSTETRICS IN RIJEKA AND THE FIRST MIDWIFE TEXTBOOK IN CROATIAN

Abstract

At the beginning of the 18th century, midwives from the inland were taught and examined by local physicians and surgeons, and even some priests. Midwives from Rijeka took examinations first in Trieste and later in Rijeka. The examiner was Dr Xavier Graziani, the famous physician in Rijeka and health organizer in the second half of the 18th century. In 1786, the first Midwifery School was founded in Rijeka together with the first
Maternity Hospital, the oldest in Croatia. That school did not last long and was closed in 1799 after the death of Dr Jacob Cosmini who. founded the school, managed it, trained and examined the midwives.
The second part of this review includes a part of an unpublished manuscript (145 pages of text and 12 tables and drawings) of a textbook for midwives written by Dr Ivan Carrobi in 1795. Had it been published, it would have been the first illustrated medical textbook in one of the south Slavic languages. It is possible that Dr Carrobi wrote it in order to succeed Dr Jacob Cosmini in Rijeka's first Midwifery School. That attempt was not successful. Throughout the 19th century there were no training schools for midwives in Rijeka.