Medical issues presented in “The New Warsaw Diary” – 1801-1805

Abstract

The development of non-informative periodicals addressed to wide circles of society took place in Poland in the early 19th century. It was a difficult period for this type of projects, resulting primarily from the lack of statehood and, consequently, the interference of the partitioning authorities in the scope and subject matter through censorship. One of the few Polish journals with a clearly profiled scientific topic published in Warsaw in the years 1801–1805 was “The New Warsaw Diary”. It covered a wide range of topics, from humanities and literary issues to astronomy and chemistry. Strictly medical issues were included in various sections, but a section entitled medicine and even surgery was quickly separated, reporting on new methods of cataract surgery. Generally, these texts, prepared with great reliability and carefully edited, provided access to knowledge, which was often very difficult for political reasons. They constitute an interesting contribution to understanding the popularization of medical issues in Polish society at the beginning of the 19th century. Covering certain topics, such as discussion on the smallpox vaccination technique, is a good example of how significant issues concerning population health had resonance in the community. The preserved issues of “The New Warsaw Diary” with texts written in beautiful Polish, which, despite lexicographic changes, have not lost any of their readability, serve not only as material for textual analyses, but also as an interesting reading.