Károly Weszelovský, Veselovský

* Námesztó, November 2, 1818 – † Árvaváralja, November 12, 1892 / physician, physician-statistician, pioneer of public health reform, meteorological observer ; ; He came from a Slovak family in Árva County. His father moved to Námesztó from the village of Veszele, and the family name also comes from this. His mother was Anna Hamuljak, the sister of Martin Hamuljak (1789–1859)123, who excelled in the dissemination of Slovak literature and was the publisher of the first Slovak-language almanac – Zora [Dawn]. One of his brothers-in-law, Sámuel Andreánszky (1799–1860), was a pharmacist in Námesztó, the mayor of the town, and an ardent supporter of Štúr. Another brother-in-law was the writer of the Slovak national anthem, Janko Matúška (1821–1877). Weszelovszky completed his elementary school education in his hometown, and his high school education in Trsztena and Bánya Biszterce. He studied medicine at the University of Pest and received his doctorate in medicine at the end of the 1843/44 academic year. Among his classmates were such scientists who later became famous as Sándor Lumniczer (1821–1892) or Lajos Markusovszky (Csorba). He wrote his doctoral dissertation on encephalitis. After receiving his diploma, he settled in his hometown, became the doctor of the Orava estate at the end of 1847 and performed this task until his death, while also serving as the forensic medical officer of Orava County. In addition to his medical work, he also made regular meteorological observations. ; He married in 1849, and his wife Zsófia Cziruly (1834–1866) blessed him with 8 children. He carried out his medical work under difficult circumstances (underdeveloped road network, harsh climatic conditions, general poverty, etc.). Experiencing the high infant mortality rate and frequent serious illnesses, he also analyzed the health situation of the region from a statistical perspective. He drew attention to the beneficial effects of the iodine-rich mineral water spring of Polhora, especially in the treatment of skin lesions caused by thyroid enlargement and tuberculosis and swelling of the cervical glands (scrofulosis). In addition to his medical work, he also conducted regular meteorological observations, and even reported on the Žilina earthquake of January 15, 1858, to the Natural History Society. In 1865, he himself became a member of the society. From its inception (1857) he was a permanent contributor to the Orvosi Hetilap, in which he wrote articles on the health and meteorological conditions of Árva County, among other things. Despite his Slovak origin, Weszelovszky did not sympathize with the Slovak national movement, for which reason even his brothers considered him a renegade, and the Slovak newspaper Pešťbudínské vedomosti (Pest-Budai Hírek) described him as “the deadly devil of the Slovak nation”. He maintained increasingly close relations with representatives of Hungarian science and gave lectures at the traveling meetings of the Hungarian Doctors and Naturalists on several occasions. For the first time in 1863, at the 9th traveling meeting held in Pest, he read his paper entitled The Medical Record of Árva County. Around this time, the need for health care reform had already arisen, and a committee was established, whose proposal was developed by Károly Weszelovszky under the title Proposal on the organization of public health and medical affairs. This was first discussed at the 11th traveling assembly of Hungarian Doctors and Naturalists held in Bratislava in 1865. Only a thoroughly shortened and modified version of this paper was published in print, the full text was published in 2013 by Madách-Posonium Publishing House, edited by Dr. László Kiss (Palást) and with an introductory study (The urgent need for reform – Dr. Károly Weszelovszky’s 1865 Proposal on the organization of public health). Weszelovszky’s study was the basis for Article XIV of the Act on the organization of public health, adopted in 1876. Many of his ideas and suggestions were only implemented much later. He considered medical statistics important until the end of his life, but especially the need to uncover the real causes of high morbidity (death rate). A year before his death, in 1891, his more than 500-page work entitled Climatic conditions in the Orava region, based on his observations from 1850 to 1884, was published under the auspices of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.