[Joseph Frank (1771-1842) and professional evaluation of the physician]

The paper aims to analyze and comment on a booklet written and published at the end of the eighteenth century by Joseph Frank , son of the even more famous Johann Peter Frank. In this work the author takes on the task of educating the public to weigh carefully the medical professional to choose the most suitable and capable to safeguard the health of citizens. The figure of the doctor is considered under different viewing angles: from the exterior to the physical, the moral qualities to those intellectual, behavior toward others than toward physicians - surgeons and barbers to pharmacists. A full-bodied final chapter is devoted to the attitude of the doctor towards patients. Frank's book fits into that genre of eighteenth-century medical literature that had the obvious purpose of educating physicians and patients on the correct performance of reciprocal roles in the interest of the health of the individual and the protection of physical and mental wellbeing of the population.