FROM THE “ART OF CUTTING THE UMBILICAL CORD” BY DR. J. B. LALANGUE TO THE “MIDWIFERY” BY PROF. DR. A. LOBMAYER AND PROF. DR F. DURST

Abstract

A short survey of midwifery and obstetrics development in the northwest part of Croatia is presented in this paper, from J.B. Lalangue’s coming to Varaždin, through the founding and work of Midwifery School and National Maternity in Zagreb to the persons without whom this would not be possible or it would be quite different. Lalangue, being an expert on obstetrics, noticed in a very short period of time, all misfortune caused by incompetent work of then’s midwives, so he published the book “Brevis institutio de re obstetritia illiti kratek navuk od mestrie pupkorezne...”, and started first midwifery courses for peasant women. Focus of this paper is on Prof. Dr Antun Lobmayer textbook analyses, and he was the first professor of midwifery, and the director of the “Royal Midwifery School” and the “National Maternity” in Zagreb. Textbooks for midwives named “Midwifery- Learning Book for Midwives’, had six editions over 50 years and they represent the basis of Croatian midwifery textbook literature. Prof. Dr Franjo Durst, the assistant and successor of Prof. Lobmayer completed and partially revised the last two editions.Besides the biographies of the “Midwifery School” professors, an analyssis and critical review on the mentioned textbooks is given from today’ s medicine point of view.