[Development of the specialty "hypertonology"]

The general tendency of the development of the sciences to differentiation is to be seen also within the discipline of internal medicine. By the formation of special tasks with a limited aim of realization the scientific subject of hypertonology developed. According to the regularities of the genesis of the discipline the process took place gradually. In the 18th and 19th century (prehistory) above all the method of measuring the blood pressure (technical prerequisite) developed. With the intensification of the process of cognition since the beginning of the 20 the century the actual development began (preparatory or initial phase). The qualitative breach (phase of constituation) was evoked by 1950 by making available highly effective remedies decreasing the blood pressure, the recommendations of the WHO concerning the limiting values of the blood pressure and the recognition of risk factors. Nowadays the scientific subject of hypertonology is fully acknowledged in research and health policy (phase of establishment); the process leads over to the phase of consolidation.