Karol Marcinkowski was born in Poznan on the 23rd of June, 1800 in a lover middle class family. Having completed the local St. Mary Magdalene School, he read medicine at the University of Berlin in 1817 -1821. Soon after taking his final examination for his activities in a clandestine student organization for national liberation, "Polonia", over which he presided. He served his sentence at the fortress of Wisloujscie (Weichselmude) near Gdansk, was released in 1823 and settled down in Poznan which had, at that time, approximately twenty thousand inhabitants, mainly of Polish extraction. The majority of the population, who were very poor, was being reduced to fulfilling menial tasks by the rich and overpowering German and Jewish middle-class.
For seven years Marcinkowski was involved in hospital work, philanthropy and medical services which he rendered to all those who needed or expected them, regardless of their nationality, their social background or standing, their political or religious outlook- thus gaining general respect from the citizens of the Grand Duchy of Poznan.
In 1830, incited by the news about the outbreak of the November Uprising in Warsaw he secretly left his home town to join the Polish army which was then being organized, to take part in the war against Russia. At first he was fighting has cavalryman, to become later a divisional doctor and, finally, the chief-of-staff in the corps of Gen. Dezydery Chlapowski. His contribution to the battle of Grochow earned him the golden cross of Virtuti Militari and soon he was made captain. On crossing the Russian-Prussian border with the Polish army, after an abortive expedition to Lithuania and the defeat of the Polish troops, he was interned near Klajpeda. During the following few months he was battling against the cholera epidemic in the camps of the Prussian army and among the civilians of Klajpeda , gaining great recognition and gratitude from the local community and the town authorities.
At the end of 1831 it was made possible for him to emigrate. He reached Scotland by sea and settled down in Montrose. Having mastered the English language, he began practicing as a doctor and, at the same time, improving his professional knowledge in Edinburg, Glasgow and, in the summer of 1832, in London.
While in the capital of the Kingdom of Great Britain, he vigorously joined in the activities of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland which was established in February 1832, opening branches in Warwick, Birmingham and Aberdeen.
In August 1832, he left for France. In Paris he was complementing his medical studies, compiling scientific dissertations and providing medical treatment to Polish emigrants. He was active in the Society for Scientific Assistance in Paris, of which he was a co-founder (29.-XII-1832) and a member of the ten person council along with prince Antoni Czartoryski, Gen. Karol Kniaziewicz, Gen. Ludwik Pac, former President of the National Government- Bonawentura Niemojewski, Ludwik Plater, Julian Niemcewicz, Cezary Plater, Aleksander Jelowicki and Adam Mickiewicz.
He left Paris in September 1834 and set out for Poznan. On his way back he was arrested for his political activities on emigration and put in a Berlin Prison. Released on the 26th of March 1835, he returned to Poznan under the close surveillance of the Prussian police. On his return he was taken to court under the charge of his participation in the November Uprising and sentenced to a nine month confinement in the fortress, two years in military service and the confiscation of his property. In 1837, Marcinkowski was deprived of his freedom for the fourth time and imprisoned in the Swidnica fortress in Silesia. As a result of the persistent appeals made by the citizens of Wielkopolska, as well as by the Poznan municipal authorities, to the King, the doctor was granted "leave" from prison to help fight the grave cholera epidemic. His punishment was then effaced but he remained under close police scrutiny till the end of his life.
Having brought the aforementioned facts of Marcinkowski's life to attention, we shall now attempt to present the intellectual and social testament bequeathed by that outstanding man who is believed to have created the Polish model of an ideal doctor.
By the mid forties of present century Marcinkowski was a national celebrity in Poznan and, at the time of the Partition his image provided comfort and encouragement in almost every dwelling of Wielkopolska. A Poznan man to the core, he was bound up with Poznan throughout almost his whole life.
In the wake of the Partition, Poland was going through an extremely difficult and painful period. The Polish State disappeared from the map of Europe. At a time like that Polish people focused their thoughts on national history seeking an interpretation of the predicament they were facing. During that long period of national history, political thought tended to take either of the following courses. One interpretation had a tragic ring because it saw Poland as drifting towards disaster, "a fatal course of events in which the Poles move from one disaster to another, or from splendor and major national upheavals towards an inevitable catastrophe". The other interpretation was based on the hope that there existed inherent forces within the nation which made it possible to emerge unimpaired from all failures and disasters, to create new institutions, new values, new patterns and methods of collective activity aimed at recovery, to overcome crises and to reestablish the elements of power (1).
Karol Marcinkowski is one of the creators of the optimistic trend which is well known under the term "organic work" or "work at the foundations".
Marcinkowski who, by virtue of his life, created a model personality of a doctor and was also a precursor of the innovatory trends in Poznan medicine- is regarded as the most outstanding social activist and co-organizer of the modern scientific, economic and cultural life in Wielkopolska.
Since the middle of the nineteenth century Karol Marcinkowski has set an example to be followed by the generations of doctors in Poznan. His personality has had an unusual impact which can be explained an analysis of an intellectual and social testament which he has bequeathed to posterity. An insight into the record of his thoughts or into the report about his deeds given by witnesses, reveals a genuine authority of a man whose words coincided with his actions and who provided a firm support in difficult or dubious situations by pointing towards the further course to be taken, giving impetus for action, calling for self-improvement, It worth-while, at this stage, to recall an article by Ignacy Zielewicz, "The Heritage of the Spirit", published in the first 1889 issue of the Poznan journal of great merit - "The Doctor's News", which was reprinted in extensor in the same journal in 1928 and 1938. This article contains some elements of Marcinkowski's intellectual and social testament which make, as it were, an ideological program for the doctors in Wielkopolska (2).
Karol Marcinkowski was first of all a doctor, fashioned by his epoch which the issue of national independence was of prime importance for all Polish patriots, and social activities were regarded as one of the ways to uphold Polish nationality, to help the nation to survive under the yoke of the invaders and to throw off the hated manacles of servitude.
Being a doctor, Marcinkowski believed that everybody persuing this profession should continue all life long, improve his professional knowledge and bring it up to date. He sad an excellent example himself and keenly encouraged others to follow suit. The historians of science regard him as the best educated Polish doctor of the first half of the 19th century.
Marcinkowski tried to acquire as much experience as possible through a consciencious clinical practice which he started immediately after his studies had been completed, deliberately choosing surgery as his specialty. The initial seven year surgical experience obtained in the course of his work in the only Polish hospital in Poznan, i.e. the Sisters of Charity Institute- enriched by his experience as an anatomico-pathologist (gained thanks to numerous post-mortems) - was further developed by his practice as an army surgeon during the Polish-Russian war of 1831 and by his later studies in Edinburgh, Paris and once more in Berlin. Thus the diagnostic ability of that Poznan doctor had been perfected. The well-known statement made by Prof. Johan Schonlein (1793-1864), the most eminent European clinicist of the time, confirms the diagnostic skill of the Polish doctor in the following way: "Ich mochte gern den klaren Blick den Marcinkowski's haben." (3). Marcinkowski believed it his duty, the duty of every doctor for that matter, to keep up with the recent achievements of world medicine. During his stay in Paris he mastered the latest methods of clinical examination, in use up to present times percussion (Auenbrugger-Corvisart 1761-1808) and auscultation (Laennec 1819) which he introduced in the thirties of the 19th century in Poznan and propagated among the local doctors.
As regards therapy, Marcinkowski also reached the high level set up by contemporary top achievements, obtaining better therapeutic results than many well-known clinicists which can be explained by his extraordinary psychotherapeutic abilities.
In his consulting room, run up to the standards of the modern polyclinic, he taught young Polish doctors that every course of treatment should be based on the thorough knowledge (examination) of the state of the patient's organism and the thorough knowledge of the medicines to be applied. Marcinkowski believed that the plan of treatment should be laid down in detail and that it should be sufficiently justified prior to its application. Each treatment should be individualized. In the course of treatment it is necessary to use only such means which bring marked improvement and cause no harm. Treatment should be intense and comprehensive while special attention is paid to maintaining the strength of the sick because, frequently, the organism itself, and not the treatment applied, has the decisive impact on the course of illness. He observed, "nature, after long years (...) cures diseases which we, in our inefficiency, consider as incurable". He believed that the practical application of medical knowledge should rely on experience, in the broadest sense of the world, and not on discretional reasoning, on "theoretical delusions" (4). He attached great significance to the influence which can be exerted by a doctor on the psychological state of the sick person to overcome fear, doubt or despair and to encourage hope and faith in recovery.
Dr. Marcinkowski's intellectual medical testament brings to mind the well-known Hippocrates oath.
Marcinkowski taught by word and example that a doctor, apart from rendering medical services, should give comfort to those who need hi, assistance. He proved throughout his life that a doctor, while providing such assistance, should spare no pains nor sacrifice. The way in which he provided free medical attention and the extent of his disinterestedness had no equal. He encouraged other doctors to follow his example because he believed that a doctor's vocation calls for self-sacrifice and should disregard material gains.
Marcinkowski reasoned that every doctor, within the limits of his possibilities and circumstances, should be obliged to perform research work. He gave excellent himself by his contribution in Poznan. While in charge of the Institute of the Sisters of Charity, he organized himself, every week, scientific sessions for the members of the Doctors Council "with free admittance for the doctors from Poznan and from provinces" (5).He published more interesting clinical observations derived from his practice in hospital (6) and conducted research seeking effective diuretics (7). Later on, while he was abroad, he wrote five scientific dissertations of which "Blood Transfusion as a Therapeutic Method"(1836) was particularly innovative (8). Apart from the author's experiments, it contained critical comments on therapy by blood-letting - especially in cases of pneumonia. Marcinkowski's negative attitude towards the practice, so common at the time, was sensational, the more so since it was twelve years later only that a Polishman, Jozef Dietl (1804-1878) proved the nonsense and harmfulness of blood-letting applied to those suffering from inflammatory processes. On the other hand, still at the turn of the century, in respectable medical journals, some scientists widely recommended blood-letting therapy in cases of pneumonia (9). In the aforementioned work Marcinkowski noted the modern method, at that time unknown in the majority of European countries, of treating cholera patients by means of intravenous infusion of warm water. He become aquatinted with this method while he was in Scotland and he used it successfully in Poznan during the severe epidemic in 1837. For sharing his knowledge and experience in the field of the therapy of and protection against cholera with the French doctors going out to Warsaw, the Royal Academy of Science in Paris awarded him with a gold "Medaille d'Encouragement" in 1833 (10).
Yet another important item from Marcinkowski's medical testament is a warm and considerate approach to the sick to whom- as Marcinkowski propagated and confirmed by his deeds - a doctor should be a philanthropist. Nowadays this word is not favorably regarded, it is misinterpreted and vulgarized. And jet, philanthropist, a word of Greek origin, derives from phileo - I love and anthropos - man. It goes without saying that Marcinkowski loved this sick as well as his difficult and demanding job.
It is characteristic of Marcinkowski, that on his death, he did not leave even the proverbial penny, for whatever he earned, and he earned an enormous amount of money, he gave it away to support various social causes or to those who were in need of financial assistance. Therefore, he wrote in his testament : "I could never understand those people who earnestly accumulated their riches, leaving their children inadequately brought up because they busied themselves with making money at their expense, or, dying childless, without knowing what use would be made of their amassed fortunes (...) When I saw that by spending money for useful ends I could please (...) with what pleasure I spent it (...) I was always equally glad when it came to helping others" (11).
His devotion to medicine harmonized with his love for his country. In this respect his message for posterity is particularly beautiful, constructive and educating. He commenced his political activities in a clandestine patriotic organisation "Polonia" during his studies in Berlin. He was it co-organizer and is leader. "Polonia", unlike Zwiazek Filaretow (the Association of Filarets) which was an organization founded a year earlier in the territory occupied by the Russians, manifested sound political realism. The aim of the organization was to turn out people capable of action, "of heroic acts in the struggle for the liberation of Poland as well as of hard systematic social work" (12). A few years later Marcinkowski took part in the November Uprising and in the war against Russia. For his prowess he received the Virtuti Military cross. A wonderful and constructive message of his, in the form of a letter, has been preserved. On his way to Warsaw to join the partisans, Marcinkowski thus justifies his sudden departure from his numerous patients and from Poznan: "When all my (...) life has been spent with the keen wish to serve my country and my compatriots I would have to renounce myself, were I not to follow the urge of proving it by my deeds to which my feelings aspire" (13).
On the failure of the uprising, after the lost war, during the enforced emigration, he constantly gave way to his patriotism, his attachment to his country, his longing for his beloved Fatherland. While being far away from his home, he decisively condemned the wish to leave the Polish land expressed by his friends.
He wrote to one of them: "today we should all be where we can serve the common cause most usefully", i.e. in the country, "to give a boost to the declining spirit of our fellow countrymen, to encourage further perseverance and resistance against the enemy's outrages, so destructive to the nation" (14).Marcinkowski himself, despite his enforced emigration and repression awaiting him on return to his country, decided to comeback and serve his Fatherland in a most sensible way till the last day of his hardworking life. Although he suffered severe repression for his political activities - he was three times imprisoned, once interned, several times under arrest and finally placed under close surveillance of the Prussian police - Marcinkowski did not give in for a moment. He did not stop his patriotic activities complimented towards the end of his live (1835-1846) with an intense and wide-ranging social work.
Marcinkowski was a patriot in the best sense of the word - far from nationalism or chauvinism. It was his wish to see the spirit of tolerance and genuine brotherly love reigning not only in private and public life but also in international relations. In this respect his words went together with his actions, to which the two following facts testify. The chief of the Prussian police in Poznan, in his report on the death of our doctor, to the secretary of state in Berlin, writes as follows: "Dr Marcinkowski is dead. Although now the government is rid of an influential opponent, justice forces us to respect and recognize nobles, uprightness and charity even if in our adversary" (15). And another, even a more revealing example - the funeral manifestation in 1846 when Marcinkowski's coffin was carried on shoulders over a distance of 30 km, from Dabrowka Ludomska to Poznan, and the funeral procession consisted of thousand of people who had come from all over the Grand Duchy of Poznan and of almost all inhabitants of Poznan. Beside the Polish mourners there were the Germans and the Jews. The procession was headed by the catholic archbishop together with the rabbi and the chairman of the Protestant community (16).
Marcinkowski's social testament is also extraordinarily rich in content. He initiated and created a number of important social institutions. Most of them were established to uphold the Polish character of Wielkopolska against germanization. The most significant are: the Poznan Bazaar (1838) which gave rise to the development of Polish industry, crafts and commerce in Wielkopolska; the Polish Cassino of Poznan (1843) which was founded to "create the stable center of national opinion which would rouse the fellow countrymen, depending on the changing circumstances and needs, to incessant vigilance" (17); the Society for the Scientific Assistance for the Youth of the Grand Duchy of Poznan (1841), thanks to which over five thousand beneficiaries, coming from the poorest strata of the polish community, acquired education and eventually formed the core of Polish intelligentsia who, in the wake of the victorious Wielkopolska Uprising, took over the organization of political, economic and cultural life in Wielkopolska, Silesia and Pomerania.
Two institutions, of slightly different character than the ones already mentioned and also initiated by Marcinkowski merit special attention. One was modern health service in Poznan, organised according to Marcinkowski's project in 1841 and implemented by the municipal authorities in 1846. The other institution, in those days and quite unique, was founded in 1845. It was the Society of the Support of the Poor. Its main purpose was to alleviate unemployment, to improve the lot of the working classes (or in Marcinkowski's words, "poor classes" or "working people") (18).
It should be stressed that Marcinkowski put his ideas into practice through titanic and unending work. Being a true fanatic for work, he continued in his efforts without any restraint despite his serious progressive illness for which, at that time, there was no cure (19). He worked over and above any ordinary human strength. In work for the common good he saw the value of man and the fulfillment of human dignity.
The aforementioned shows that the intellectual and social testament of Marcinkowski combines characteristics of an ideal doctor, a great patriot, a great welfare worker and a marvelous man of action.
History teaches that in the live of communities "after a period of egoistic ideals follows a period of social ideals and vice versa" (20). Doubtless, Marcinkowski created an unequaled ideal image of a doctor which has inspired awe and admiration in Wielkopolska. Numerous celebrations devoted to his memory over more than a century bear witness to it. It should suffice to mention the most significant one such as his second funeral in 1923 when his mortal remains were moved from St. Martins cemetery to a marble sarcophagus in St. Adalbert's Church in Poznan or the most recent occasion when, on the resolution of its Senate (15.12.1981), the Poznan Medical Academy was to be named after Karol Marcinkowski. The decision of the Academy won the unanimous support of the Sejm of the Polish People's Republic which, by the decree of February 1984 sanctioned the resolution taken by the Poznan medical circles. Ever since then the Medical Academy in Poznan has had an extraordinary man as a patron, the man who created an ideal and almost unattainable model of a Polish doctor and citizen, who taught our predecessors and who teaches us "now high should the banner of the dignity of our profession fly"; Karol Marcinkowski - the pride of our science and society, the noblest and the most understanding Polish doctor, one of the most venerable Poles. Historians have been right to place him among the most eminent Poles of the 19th century (21).