MEDICINE, ILLNESS AND HEALTH IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT (Medycyna, choroba i zdrowie w wieku oswiecenia)

The author begins with the vivid discussion between German physicians after the death of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and analyses both patients' experiences and the character of medical practices at the end of the 18th century. At that time sick or/and ill people could choose from the vast arsenal of services offered by doctors, healers, surgeons etc. The access to a particular category of 'specialists' depended primarily on patient's wealth. In consequence, patients were cured in their own beds (i.e. in their house) or in the hospital (i.e. a place, where poor, needed people could receive assistance and help). The author points out that the number of therapists (if all categories of them are included) was not so low, as some historians believe. In the article he revises i.e. the wide-spread opinion that physicians in the 18th century achieved a high hierarchical social status and were paid well.