[Uz 500. obljetnicu smrti Leonarda da Vincija] / 500th ANNIVERSARY OFLEONARDO DA VINCI'S DEATH

This editorial is dedicated to a commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci near Florence, April 15, 1452 ­ Cloux Castle, France, May 2, 1519) ­ the greatest Renaissance artist and one of the greatest artists in general. From his invaluable artistic and scientific heritage, only a small part dedicated to the exploration of the Nature was selected for this occasion. In this part, according to many, the most significant place is dedicated to his anatomical drawings as a lasting testament to his interest in anatomy and medicine in general. Much has been said and written about this topic over the past 500 years. While searching through numerous bibliographic sources, several of the most impressive drawings have been selected for this occasion, with a few short reminiscences, which bear the most impressive testimony to the brilliant mind of the great Leonardo, rightfully called uomo universale.

[On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Croatian scientific society for the history of health culture]. / U prigodi pedesete obljetnice djelovanja Hrvatskoga znanstvenog drustva za povijest zdravstvene kulture.

A group of intellectuals, predominantly lecturers from the Faculty of Medicine, founded in Rijeka on May 29, 1966 the branch of the Yugoslav Scientific Society for the History of Health Culture, which after the independence of Croatia in 1991 continues its work under the name Croatian Scientific Society for the History of Health Culture. Over the past 50 years, within activities of the Society more than 250 professional and scientific conferences have been held in Rijeka and other Croatian cities. In addition, a dozen of professional-scientific trips to neighbouring countries were organized. From the original activities are highlighted the science conventions with international participation "Rijeka and Its Citizens in Medical History", where, since 2001, have been regularly presented free topics from other regions. Another important activity is the international journal "AMHA - Acta medico-historica Adriatica", which has been published since 2003 with two issues per year. Today, this is an established journal present on Medline - PubMed Service, andindexed in several respectable international databases, which guarantees quality and enables access to the world's research community. In 2005, the accompanying "AMHA Library" was launched - a series of monographs devoted to the most important medical historians, scientific conferences dedicated to individual medical laureates, and similar subjects. Ten years ago, the Society's work has been refined by the activities of a group of medical students who, under the motto "In honour of Asclepius and Orpheus", strive to affirm the links between medicine and art. Of the many performances the most significant is the traditional humanitarian concert, attended by students from all faculties of medicine from Croatia and Ljubljana.

Anatomical knowledge among medieval folk artists: osteological interpretation of two Dance of Death motifs.

Anatomy has a long history that started with dissection of animals and then expanded and flourished thanks to dissections performed on human bodies. Artists had a crucial role in uncovering the secrets of human anatomy. While most studies have focused on the influence of famous Renaissance artists on human anatomy studies, the anatomical drawings by pre-Renaissance artists and local craftsmen have remained in their shadow. One of the most popular artistic genres in which complete or parts of human skeletons appear is the Dance of Death (Danse Macabre). This article is an anthropological study of two medieval Dance of Death frescoes that are unusual in being relatively early as well as accurately datable. A comparative morphological analysis of the two late 15th century works present in Istria has been conducted. The two works were painted by two local masters and show how the artists filled the gaps in their knowledge of human anatomy mostly with insights into animal bones and imagination. Their artworks, even though only 16 years apart, demonstrate substantial differences in the representation of the skeletons. The article argues that the history of medicine and of art could make good use of osteology and physical anthropology in attempts to define and understand how anatomical knowledge developed among pre-Renaissance and post-Renaissance artists and local people.

Public health problems in the medieval statutes of Croatian Adriatic coastal towns: from public morality to public health.

The article seeks out the regulations about public health in the oldest medieval statutes of fourteen cities of the eastern Croatian Adriatic coast, between the thirteenth and sixteenth century. The research revealed numerous examples of direct or indirect ways of protecting public health. Through the analyzed documents, a noteworthy relationship between public morality and public health can be noted. The described rules are important as a reflection of awareness about public health as a condition of survival and progress in the past. They witness a progressive transition from an original common law into a written law as well as the impact that religion had in influencing people's general opinion and lifestyle in light of public health problems.

Mummified saints of the Northern Croatian Littoral.

The Istrian town of Vodnjan hosts a collection of mummified bodies and relics. Three mummies are completely preserved and belong to Blessed Leon Bembo, St Giovanni Olini, and St Nicolosa Bursa, while the other three are mummified remains of St Barbara, St Sebastian, and St Mary of Egypt. This article gives an overview of the three completely preserved bodies, including their external condition, hagiographic data, statements and hypotheses that need verification by future targeted scientific research. Although local populations attribute divine properties to the remains and treat their continued preservation as a mystery, their origin is probably similar to that of other mummified saints. A scientific study performed on the mummies will probably help to reveal the true origin and type of mummification of the bodies. Additional paleopathological research could also determine the cause of death, if the saints died by natural causes, or attest to any mutilation or sign of torture suffered in life and confirm them as the cause of death. Proper bioarchaeological research could bring useful osteobiographical updates to the existing records about these saints.

Depiction of facial nerve paresis in the gallery of portraits carved in stone by George Matthew the Dalmatian on the Sibenik Cathedral dating from the 15th century.

The introductory segment of this paper briefly describes George Matthew the Dalmatian, the architect who, between 1441 and 1473, oversaw the construction of the Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik, a city on the Croatian side of the Adriatic coast. Of the most impressive details included in this monumental construction and sculptural flamboyant gothic production infused with distinctive Dalmatian spirit is a frieze of 71 stone and three lion portraits encircling the outer apse wall. From the intriguing amalgamation of portraits of anonymous people this master came across in his surrounding, the fiftieth head in the row has been selected for this occasion. On the face of a younger man the authors have recognized and described pathognomonic right-sided facial nerve paresis. The question posed here is whether this is coincidental or it represents the master's courage, given that instead of famous people in the cathedral he situated not only ordinary people but also those "labelled" and traditionally marginalized, thus, in the most beautiful manner, foreshadowing the forthcoming spirit of Humanism and Renaissance in Croatian and European art.

[Saint Francis and his brethren: aids to the ill and guardians against diseases]. / Sveti Franjo I Njegova Subraca ­ Pomocnici Bolesnima I Zastitnici Od Bolesti.

This article takes a look at the guardian role of saints in Christian tradition against particular diseases, focusing on the life of St Francis of Assisi and his 13 follower saints who were remembered for their care for the ill and who became patron saints for particular diseases, including Anthony of Padua, Clare of Assisi, Ottone of Pola, Elizabeth of Hungary, Rose of Viterbo, Bernardine of Siena, Didacus, Mark of Montegallo, Joseph of Leonessa, John Joseph of the Cross, Giles Mary of Saint Joseph, Francis Mary of Camporosso, and Leopold Mandic. For each of them the article presents a brief hagiography and explains the relationship with a specific disease and how these saints became patrons.

Beginnings and success in preventing anophelism by means of gambusia fish on the island of Krk in Croatia from 1922 to 1927.

The introductory part has summarized the role of malaria in the course of history and various attempts of its eradication in Croatia before the World War I. Furthemore, there is a list of activities and results accomplished between 1922 and 1927 on the island of Krk by Dr. Otmar Trausmiller. After a systematic sanitation of all anopheles habitats, primarily natural and artificial bodies of still water, and introduction of imported gambusia to those bodies of water, anopheles was virtually eradicated on the island. What followed was an evident decrease of new malaria incidents, and in the campaign against malaria there was still major concern in the form of chronic patients and intensive quinine therapy. Today, about eighty years after it was introduced to Krk, gambusia still abides in ponds across the island and it represents one of the main factors in the protection against potential revival of indigenous malaria.

Starvation as cause of death in the Croatian Quarnero and hinterland between 1816 and 1825.

Our aim is to investigate starvation as cause of death and social and demographic consequences in the Croatian Quarnero and its hinterland between 1816 and 1825, paying particular attention to the infamous "year of famine" 1817. Our sources were: registers of births, marriages, and deaths from 21 parishes kept at the Croatian State Archives in Rijeka and Zagreb. We collected and processed data for statistical analysis according to the date of baptism (birth), marriage, and death, and according to sex and age. Our focus was on recorded causes of death. Between 1816 and 1825, 15,701 children were baptised (born), and 11,021 people died. Starvation was recorded as cause of death in 255 cases, of which 198 were recorded in the infamous 1817. It was the only year with negative growth in virtually all parishes, with the birth-to-death ratio of 1147:1545. In 1817, the proportion of death by starvation to the total death rate was 12.8% for the entire area, with the highest share recorded in Veprinac (33.3%), Crikvenica (23.3%), and Kastav (15.8%). Death by starvation was more common in men than in women (56.7% vs. 43.3%, respectively). Age distribution was as follows; in the population below 20 years of age the death rate was 42 (16.5% of total deaths), but the most affected age group were infants and children aged 1-4 years (69.0%) whereas in adult population the death rate was 213 (83.5% of total deaths) and the most affected group were the elderly between 60 and 69 years (26.3%). Analysis shows lower birth and marriage rates between 1816 and 1818, followed by a steep rise and a plateau with minimal variation. This study shows that the Croatian Quarnero and its hinterland suffered a great famine in the early 19th century and 1817 in particular, which had left a deep mark on local demography, just like in the neighbouring parts of Croatia and Europe.

[Malaria in Croatia in the period between 1987 to 2006]. / Malarija u Hrvatskoj u razdoblju od 1987. do 2006.

A retrospective study about the incidence of malaria in Croatia in the period from 1987 to 2006 based on the official data of the Croatian National Institute of Public Health. In this period there were 201 cases of malaria registered in Croatia. The majority (79.6%) were imported from Africa, a significantly lower number from Asia (17%), and several cases from South America or from unknown locations. One case ended in death. The causative agents determined are Plasmodium falciparum (64.7%), Plasmodium vivax (19.9%), Plasmodium malariae (2.0%), Plasmodium ovale (0.5%), and mixed infections (6.0%). The causative agent was not discovered in 6.9% of the cases. Chemoprophylaxis was given to patients in regular intervals and correctly in 23.3% of the cases, in irregular intervals in 8.0% of the cases, incorrectly in 9.5% of the cases, in 9.5% the manner of application is unknown, and the remaining 48.7% did not use chemoprophylaxis. Approximately 70% of the patients are seamen, and the remaning are workers temporarily working in tropical countries and tourists. In conclusion, authors argue in favour of prevention measures in persons who stay in malarious areas, by providing them with information about the disease, applying permanent prophylaxis and rigorous control, as well as monitoring all persons arriving from risky areas. On account of the danger of the possible reintroduction of malaria and spreading imported causative agents, we should focus our attention primarily on the early detection and appropriate therapy of infected cases from abroad.

Antonio Grossich- on the centenary of his introduction of iodine tincture painting in the preoperative infection control.

The article presents the life and achievements of Doctor Antonio Grossich, the head of the Department of surgery and gynecology of the Civic hospital in Rijeka. He wrote several literary works, but deserves to be remembered for his clinical and experimental work on antiseptic and aseptic procedure. He introduced the method of painting the operative field with 10% iodine tincture at first in traumas, then in general surgery. The method, for its rapidity, efficacy and not expensive had soon a worldwide success. He also participated actively in the political life of Rijeka before and after the World War I.

[Zvonimir Susic--doyen of Croatian neuropsychiatry in the 20th century]. / Zvonimir Susic--velikan hrvatske neuropsihijatrije 20. stoljeca.

There are three distinct phases in the life of Zvonimir Susic--neurologist, psychiatrist, forensic expert, educator, teacher, translator, and erudite of general and professional knowledge--Zagreb, Rijeka and Zadar phase. In Zagreb (1926-1946) he was promoted to physician (1932), there he was a student tutor, then the assistant at the Physiology Institute of the Medical Faculty; volunteer, hospital doctor (he got the specialization in 1938), assistant and head doctor of the Hospital for Mental Diseases in Vrapce, and the assistant professor (1941) at the Neuropsychiatric Department of the Zagreb University. In Rijeka (1947-1959) he reorganized Psychiatric and established the Neurology Department of the General Hospital "Brothers Dr. Sobol" and, at first, he was the honorary professor, then assistant professor and associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at the Medical Faculty of Rijeka. In Zadar (1960-1968) he was the manager of the Ugljan Hospital. He published approximately 100 works in the field of clinical neurology, neuropathology, psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry, His works on cortical presentation of the body scheme, hallucinations, tuberous sclerosis, pregnancy and multiple sclerosis, pathohistology of demyelisation, toxic neuritis, epilepsies, nervous manifestations of Malta fever, herpetic infections, pathogenesis of convulsive syndromes, psychiatric terminology, therapies of Parkinson disease and schizophrenia, ability of making will, organization of the psychiatric service, were published in national and prestigious European journals, and often cited. He wrote chapters in psychiatric handbooks and special notes in encyclopedic editions. Together with Stanislav Zupic he was the author of the first and only psychodrama in Croatia. He was one of the pioneers of neuropathology in Croatia because he founded the Neuropathology Laboratory in Vrapce Hospital in 1936. He had a remarkable preciseness in examining the patient. He was frequent and imaginative lecturer in various sections in Croatian Medical Association and other public institutions. As a gifted polyglot he was occupied by the translation work when retired. In our, till then Middle-European culture-oriented medical area, he introduced values and patterns of French neurological and German neuropathological schools.

100th anniversary of the Fourth International Congress of Thalassotherapy in Opatija.

The authors of the text have been particularly interested into the organization, the procedure,the accompanying activities as well as the themes covered at 4th International Congress of Thalassotherapy in Opatija in 1908. The Congress was organised by the then head of the thermal spa resort Professor Dr.Julius Glax. The official languages at the Congress were German, French, English, and also Italian and Croatian as the languages of the hosting country. Each lecturer had twenty minutes time to give a lecture or a co-lecture, ten minutes for papers and five for a follow-up discussion. The participants could make use of the information centre of the Congress, in the centre of Opatija, the whole day. Unofficially, the Congress started on 27th September 1908 with the introductory evening for all the participants in Adria Club. The Congress officially began on 28th September 1908 when all the participants gathered at the theatre hall of Hotel Stephanie. The lectures were presented in the morning. In the afternoon, the participants were taken to visit some exhibitions (e.g. the medical exhibition at Hotel Palace, the exhibition of the native Istrian-Dalmatian home crafts and antiquates and the painting exhibition at Vila Angiolina), a short sea voyage through the bay of Kvarner. On the last day of the Congress, the participants observed the sanitary conditions in Opatija (the water supply, the sewer system, litter incinerator, and quarantine for infectious illnesses), three sanatoriums, Zander's Institute, the rehabilitating-heart paths and the Archduke Ludwig-Viktor's indoor baths. The round-Opatija tour was followed by the concluding meeting and the conclusion of the Congress. The authors of this research have established that there are no important differences in the organization and realization of the congresses in the past and now.

Manuscript containing a collection of medical recipes written in 1776 by a Catholic priest Petar Kastelan of Croatia.

Over the past centuries, manuscripts containing collections of folk recipes for the treatment of diseases were written mostly by Catholic priests in Croatia. They were used to prepare remedies and gave directions for their use. These writings provide valuable information for ethnographers and historians of pharmacy and medicine. They describe the types and frequency of diseases afflicting humans and domestic animals in the past, development of ethnopharmacology, folk medical terminology, names of medicinal herbs, and the interaction between folk and science medicine. This is why they need a multidisciplinary approach to be evaluated properly. This paper presents the 1776 Medicine Book by a priest Petar Kastelan from southern Croatia (Dalmatia). It was found in a private archive and has not yet been published. The collection is written in the Croatian Cyrillic script, which was mostly used from the Middle Ages to the second half of the 19th century by Catholic priests when they wanted to write in Croatian. The collection contains 250 recipes for human medical practice and 10 recipes for veterinary medical practice. Thirty recipes contain household advice. Materia medica of the manuscript is mostly composed of drugs of plant origin. Remedies of animal and mineral origin are also included, but to a smaller extent. Valuable information is given about the folk names for diseases and medicinal plants as well as descriptions of the ways of preparing remedies. Prayers for healing, void of sorcery and magic, are also included.

[Health resorts in Styria, Charinthia and Istria once (1897) and today (2007).].

The aim of this study is to determine which health resorts existed in 1897 in Istria, Carinthia and Styria region, how many of them are still in use today and how the spas and their offer were represented in the past and how they are represented today. The study is based on the textbook Balneotherapie II (Bibliothek des Arztes 1900) by prof. dr. Julius Glax. The second source of our study is based on the currently available presentation of the health resorts from the internet. The textbook Balneotherapie was intended for the post graduate education of physicians and general practitioners, so they could advise the patient on further treatment in an appropriate health resort. In the chapter Balneographie the author represented 1200 health resorts all over the world. From the book we have chosen the following regions: Istria, Carinthia and Styria which used to be three parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today they are divided in to three neighboring states: Croatia (Istria), Slovenia (Istria, Carinthia, Styria) and Austria (Carinthia, Styria). Within these regions Glax presented 22 health resorts, 19 of them are still working today. Barbarabad/Barbara bath (Carinthia, Austria) does not exist either as a resort or as a city. Rimske toplice (Römerbad/Roman baths) and Rimski vrelec (Römerquelle/ Roman springs) in Styria region do not function as health resorts any more. Nowadays we make a difference between spa and health resorts. Spa resorts offer numerous forms of recreation for better well being. Health resorts offer health services, as well as neglected, but various forms of alternative treatments and recreation. Each spa and health resort is represented in brochures and on the World Wide Web individually. Tradition is usually not mentioned, it is neglected but the exception is Opatija (Abbazia) which past is usually presented in the brochures. The museum of medical tourism was opened in November 2007 in Opatija where you can admire the development of Opatija from a small village to a mundane health resort.

Professor Valter Rukavina (1896-1972): life between medicine and painting.

This article on the occasion of the 111th birthday of professor Valter Rukavina (Rijeka, 1896-1972) recalls this extraordinary personality who is remembered by local and national history as an excellent physician, infectionist, university professor, equally successful scientist and practitioner, scholar and a polyglot, art lover, and last but not least, an extraordinary self-taught painter... He graduated from secondary school in Susak and studied medicine in Innsbruck, Graz, Vienna and Prague, where he received diploma in general practice in 1921. He started his career in Zagreb, then moved to Vrbovsko, KriZevci, Osijek, and Zlatar as district physician. Meanwhile, at the Institute of Epidemiology he specialised in bacteriology, epidemiology, serology, hygiene, and medical chemistry. He successfully organised anti-typhus campaigns and mass vaccinations against scarlet fever and diphtheria, and established local healthcare stations. After a brief stay in Zagreb, in WW2 he was transferred to Bosnia, returned to Zagreb, and since 1946 until his death he had lived in his native Rijeka, where he started an infectious diseases department that later grew into the School of Medicine clinic. Being a practitioner and a scientist, he was interested in all aspects of infectious diseases and contiguous areas, and made a major contribution with his systematic research and successful implementation of preventive measures and complete eradication of the great brucellosis epidemic that broke out in Istria after WW2. In addition to the membership in a number of professional associations, professor Rukavina was also an active member of the Rijeka chapter of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists.

Dr. Franjo (Franz) Kresnik (1869-1943): a physician and a violin maker.

Dr. Franjo (Franz) Kresnik (born Wien 1869 - died Rijeka 1943) was an excellent physician and a Central European intellectual, a bohemian mind whose two loves in life made him very special. His passions were medicine and violin making. Most of his life was spent in Susak (now a part of Rijeka, Croatia), where he worked, played music and studied the art of making stringed instruments. He visited Cremona on several occasions and studied a number of violins, drawings and tools made and used by old masters. For his profound knowledge of Cremonese violin making the Italians dubbed him "Uomo che legge violini" (The Man Who Can Read Violins). In his workshop he made fifty-two violins, two violas, two cellos and a string quartet. Some of these instruments are still played in Europe and America. The remaining violins and possessions (tools, manuscripts, drawings, literature and countless diplomas and certificates) have been kept in a memorial room at the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka. In addition, a street near the Faculty of Medicine in Rijeka is named after Franjo Kresnik.

"Marina-Trinkkur" and a few more modern-time hydrotherapeutic myths from the Kvarner region of NW Croatia.

PURPOSE: The present paper tries to address the rise and decay of the sea-water "cult" in regional health tourism in NW Croatia, concentrating upon and analysing more thoroughly the example of Marina, chemically processed sea water, an invention of Dr Géza Fodor, the Hungarian physician practicing in that part of Croatia. METHOD: The original documents and archived items related to the topic were examined. Furthermore, we investigated numerous communal bulletins and medical authorities' records of respective time. RESULTS: Our research showed that the sea-water baths, introduced thanks to the influence of balneologists (like J. Glax), and "drinking cures" (advocated by M.-J. Ortel, for instance) were surprisingly popular not only among tourists of the time, but also among the physicians that used them extensively for therapeutical purposes. These baths and "drinking cures" enriched and completed the medical offer of the resorts regardless of their sometimes dubious effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: This simple distilled sea-water preparation, advertised as a real panacea, demonstrates a paradigm that elucidates the mentality of physicians, merchants, and patients/consumers of the time.

Cult of St. Blasius, patron saint of throat sufferers and of otolaryngologists, in Croatia.

In the introductory part presented is a short hagiography of St. Blasius, and the legend of miraculous healing of a child in whose throat a bone had stuck, threatening to choke the child. Thanks to that legend, St. Blasius has become the traditional patron of the laryngeal diseases, and, since recently, the patron of the otolaryngologists, too. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the cult of St. Blasius, which is present in Croatia since the 10th century until present. Venerated all over the country, St. Blasius has been "elected" the heavenly protector of 10 parish communities, as well as of the city and the dioceses of Dubrovnik. Beside pilgrimage and prayers, among many traditional forms of folk piety, a ritual called "grlicenje" has been preserved-a curative and preventive blessing of the throat with crossed candles on the Saint's Day. In more recent times, the same day has been remembered among Croatian otolaryngologists and the societies of laryngectomized persons, who chose St. Blasius for their patron, too.

Skrljevo disease: between myth and reality.

At the end of the 18th century, an epidemic of allegedly unknown disease characterized by inconsistent symptoms broke up in Istria, Croatia. The disease was called Skrljevo disease after the village Skrljevo, near Rijeka, where it first emerged. We critically evaluated archive material, books, and papers on this disease published during the last 200 years. According to these records, the "illness" spread quite rapidly, affecting around 13000 people at its peak around the mid-19th century. Dozens of papers, books, and dissertations were written, trying to elucidate the nature and cause of the "epidemic." By the end of the 19th century, the "disease" had mostly disappeared, but the questions it had raised did not. We believe that this "disease" was not a real epidemic, but actually the rise (and fall) of a "fashionable diagnosis". We recognized certain similarities in ethical and popular aspects between the story of the Skrljevo disease and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.