Lajos Arányi and post-mortem reports in the 1860s

Abstract

Our study examines 50 handwritten post-mortem reports from Semmelweis Egyetem Központi
Levéltár [The Central Archives of Semmelweis University] in two main aspects. The first is the
relationship between the post-mortem findings written around 1864 (the year Arányi Lajos’
book, A kórbonctan elemei gyógygyakorló és törvényszéki orvosok számára sokratesi
modorban tárgyalva [Elements of Pathology for Medical Practitioners and Forensic Doctors in
a Socratic Method] was edited) and the principles and theory Arányi describes in the first
Hungarian systematic pathology. Do the post-mortem findings reflect Arányi’s book and vice
versa: does Arányi reform the practice of writing post-mortem reports in the 2nd half of the
19th century? This question is illustrated through the pathological description of a specific
organ, i.e. the lung. Terms describing sensory impressions are collected, and the relationships
between the terminologies of Latin post-mortem diagnoses and the detailed Hungarian
descriptions of this organ are examined. Finally, we present a short parallel selection from a
diachronic database containing the former and the equivalent modern medical terms.