Joseph Kis Witzay

* Košice, March 26, 1746 – † Košice, April 5, 1810 / Chief physician of Torna County and Košice ; ; His father, József Kis Witzay (1715-1790) was the "Chyrurgusa" (surgeon) of the city of Košice, who acquired his professional knowledge as a military paramedic. His son already studied medicine at the university: he started in Vienna and completed it in Nagyszombat, at the medical faculty founded in 1769 and teaching from 1770, in 1773. Four others graduated with him in the 1772/73 academic year: Jakab Reineggs (1744–1793) – Braunschweig, János Jakab Engel (Lőcse, 31 May 1749 – Késmárk, 10 September 1831), Ernő Keresztély Krieger (Eperjes, 1745–1818). In his 60-page doctoral dissertation (De lingua ut signo in morbis)58 he discussed the language as a symptom of disease. After obtaining his diploma, he settled in his hometown and first became the physicist (chief physician) of Torna county, and from 1782 – as the successor of Károly Portner – the physicus ordinarius of Kassa. He was quite shy of official formalities, even entrusting the examination of the county midwives to the county’s chief midwife. He primarily dealt with healing. This is how he came into contact with Ferenc Kazinczy, who had contracted typhoid fever, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. Although he did not marry, one of Kazinczy's letters reveals that he was in love with the wife of his garden neighbor, the city consul Jakab Sihulszky, and it seems very likely that he was the father of Frigyes Sihulszky, who also became a doctor. In his will, he left all his movable property to this man, with the stipulation that he change his name to Witzay. However, this did not happen. József Kis Witzay was also a member of a freemason lodge in Košice, but little is known about his activities, since most of the documents related to the lodge were destroyed in time due to the bloody reprisals of the Martinovics conspiracy. By the way, Kazinczy reported in a letter about his friend's funeral: "The poor flocked to his house and accompanied his empty coffin, loaded with stones, to the cemetery, weeping, because his ashes were hidden secretly in his garden, according to his own wishes." This also testifies to a Freemasonry mentality. Kis Witzay was in contact with József Kazinczy throughout his life, and did not deny him even during his imprisonment, unlike many of his other "friends." He also treated another of our distinguished poets, Gábor Dayka (1769–1796) in 1796, but he proved powerless against his lung disease.