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Abstract

In one of his medical works--"Cogitationes et observationes de climate hungarico" published in 1739--the Hungarian physician J. G. H. Kramer describes the very unhealthy climate of Hungary and the diseases and high death rate it causes among the inhabitants, especially foreigners. The longevity of part of the population is to be ascribed to an inherited adaptation to the climate and to peculiar nutrition and habits. Serbs, Wallachs and Gypsies abstain from eating meat almost nine months of the year. They take daily cold baths in all seasons, and the Serbs even immerge their new-born babies into cold water in summer as well as in winter. As regards health, vigour and longevity the Hungarians cannot be compared to the Serbs although they live in higher and more salubrious regions. Dr. Kramer's recommendations to people living in Hungary on the best way to keep their good health, represent the diet of the inhabitants belonging to the Greek Orthodox creed who, out of the 12 ethnic groups forming then the population of Hungary, were apparently the best adapted to the climate of their native country.