RESUMO
Internal medicine emerged as a new medical specialty in the second half of the 19th century. It was based on a novel diagnostic and therapeutic paradigm, and included pathophysiologic interpretation of physical examination, laboratory tests, and imaging techniques, in contrast with previous descriptive approach to clinical problems. Professor Edward J. Sas-Korczynski in 1891 proposed to organize Polish meetings on internal medicine. The proposal was implemented only in 1906 by Antoni W. Gluzinski, a famous Polish internist. Despite obstacles set by the partitioning powers, the Society of Internists of the Polish Lands was founded. The name of the association was changed to the Polish Society of Internal Medicine during the congress held in Vilna (now Vilnius) in 1923, the first one organized in the independent Poland. The journal of the Society, Polish Archives of Internal Medicine, was founded and Antoni W. Gluzinski was its first editor-in-chief. Later, the journal was edited by Wladyslaw Janowski, Witold E. Orlowski, Andrzej Biernacki, Tadeusz Orlowski, Artur Czyzyk, and Anetta Undas. Witold E. Orlowski was a father of modern Polish internal medicine, and contributed to the development of its subspecialties and their societies. Most of them had roots in the specialist sections of the Polish Society of Internal Medicine. The journal supported the newly founded societies by publication of issues focused on selected subspecialties. Despite the development of subspecialties, the role of internal medicine as a holistic discipline covering the diagnosis and therapy of many organs does not decrease.