[The socio-medical journal "Dzieje Dobroczynnosci Krajowey i Zagraniczney ..." in the years 1820-1824]. / Pismo spoLeczno-medyczne: "Dzieje Dobroczynnosci Krajowey i Zagraniczney ...", w Latach 1820-1824.

ABSTRACT

"Dzieje Dobroczynnosci Krajowey i Zagraniczney z wiadomosciami ku wydoskonaleniu iey sLuzacymi ..." [The Chronicle of Domestic and Foreign Philanthropy with news serving the improvement thereof ...] was the unofficial monthly publication of the Vilna Philanthropic Society, and was published in Vilna from the beginning of 1820 until the close of 1824. Today largely forgotten, this unique journal deserves to be brought back to light in view of the considerable topicality of its contents. The author describes the circumstances in which the journal came into being, as well as the composition of its editorial board and the editorial line it followed. She points out, among other things, the conception of socio-medical work that the journal promoted with a view to restricting the scourge of beggary and infectious diseases, especially small-pox. She also stresses that the journal sought ways of organizing socio-medical care in which a part would also be played by the State. The journal often made recourse, as its title indicates, to traditions of Polish and European charitable work. Finally, the author mentions that the journal served as a forum for promoting health education (being one of the first to do so in the Vilna region) and that it had a fairly wide circulation among the local public. The views presented in the journal reflected the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment as well as the nascent Romantic Age in Poland.