Zoltán Vámossy, versatile and active medical professor of the Institute of Pharmacy

Abstract

Abstract Zoltán Vámossy (1868–1953), with Transylvanian roots, became a doctor 130 years ago, in 1891, at the University of Budapest. Later, from 1898, he was appointed a private university professor of Pharmacology, from 1908 a public university professor, and from 1920 to 1938 he was director of the Institute of pharmacology. In the meantime, from 1922 to 1924, he also held the position of dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on May 5, 1920, but on April 23, 1948 his membership was terminated for political reasons. It was not restored until after his death, on 9 May 1991. Afterwards he taught even in the 1945/46 school year. He was an understanding and helpful instructor for the university students, so he was respected, appreciated, and loved. His professional life was filled with university education, academic work, and editorial duties. He wrote books to promote education, for example he translated into Hungarian a book written by Arnold Cloetta and Wilhelm Filehne in 1881, entitled Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre und Arzneiverordnungslehre. This was published in 1894 in Budapest under the title Gyógyszertan tankönyv (Pharmacology Textbook). In 1907 he published his own book Mérgezésekről (On Poisonings), and in 1908 Gyógyszertan orvostanhallgatók és orvosok számára (Pharmacology for medical students and physicians). The latter’s ninth, expanded and revised edition appeared in 1944. Medical students in Hungary and Transylvania learned from this for decades. In 1933 he was appointed chairman of the editorial board of the IV. Magyar Gyógyszerkönyv. His editorial work is also significant. From 1909 to 1944 he was the commissioned editor of the new course of the Magyar Orvosi Archivum (Hungarian Medical Archive), and from 1923 to 1944 he was the editor-in-chief of the Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly). During this time, many of his writings were published here. In December 1927 issue, he announced that certain issues of the Orvosi Hetilap would be supplemented by a permanent supplement entitled Az Orvosi Gyakorlat Kérdései (Questions of Medical Practice). In 1940, in parallel with the Medical Weekly, he founded the monthly Orvostudományi Közlemények (Medical Gazette), which was published until the end of 1944. He strived for the correct use of the Hungarian medical language in all his writings..