[Observations on the effect of work on human health in a book by John Baptiste Lalangue]

The paper presents particulars on damaging effects of work on human health drawn from the first professional medical book published in the Croatian language. Most official documents and papers of the 18th century were written in Latin. Originally, the subject book, Medicina Ruralis, was also written in Latin and subsequently translated to Croatian. It was published in 1776, in the city of Varazdin, Croatian capital at the time. The author was John the Baptist Lalangue, the viceroy's physician and the official physician of the Varazdin county, during the rule of Hapsburg archduchess Maria Theresa. The paper attempts to show to what extent does the Lalangue's book reflect the first ideas and recommendations related to occupational diseases, particularly those described in the capital work of Ramazzini who was acknowledged as "the father of occupational health". Such ideas developed with the progress of the Industrial Revolution at the end of 17th century. In his book, Lalangue considers hard, physical work the major cause of diseases in population he observed and cured in his everyday practice. He gave detailed recommendations for physicians on how to get professional history data of the patient. Furthermore, Lalangue's book introduces the first ideas as to the professional rehabilitation of diseased persons. The paper concludes that Lalangue's ideas represent the origins of modern occupational health on Croatian territory, and emphasises the significance of such ideas appearing soon after their occurrence in other industrially more developed European countries.