Tissot as Part of the Medical Enlightenment in Hungary

The Enlightenment, whatever we mean by it, was imported from Western Europe into Hungary during the eighteenth century. The reception of the new ideas and values was a slow and contradictory process. A few learned individuals, moved by a somewhat missionary zeal, played a mediatory role, but their efforts were often wrecked by the backward social and political conditions. On the other hand, some enlightened ideas were introduced to, and occasionally forced on, society by the absolutist government. ¹