VIRUS Band 23, pp. 221-239, 2025/04/24
Schwerpunkt: Mensch - Tier - Gesundheit
Early traces of the methodology of pathological anatomy, systematized in the 19th century, were found in a document dating back to 1765 containing the description of an autopsy. This document records observations made during the autopsy of Ferenc Barkóczy (1710–1765), the head of the Hungarian Roman Catholic Church and the Archbishop of Esztergom. The systema-tic description, the sequence of opening body cavities, and the structure of the record roughly follow the canonized methods established about eighty years later. The reason why this des-crip tion preceded its time can be primarily explained by the fact that the autopsy, in addition to determining the cause of death, also aimed at excluding the possibility of foul play (poisoning). In other words, the dissection of the body served a forensic purpose, also evidenced by the presenceoftheofficialstatephysicianduringtheprocedure.
Keywords: Hungarian archbishop, autopsy, legal background, 1765, Habsburg Empire, multimorbid pathological lesions