[A view of non-professional medicine in the 18th century as reflected by the memoirs of Regina Salomea Rusiecka-Pilsztyn]

The source of this article were Rusiecka's memoirs entitled 'Proceder podrózy i zycia mego awantur' ('My Life's Travels and Adventures'), written down in about 1760 in Istanbul and published in 1957 under the editorship of Roman Pollak. The authoress of the memoirs was born in 1718 in the Nowogródek area, most probably the daughter of petty gentry. At the age of 14, she was given in marriage to oculist Jakub Halpir. It was from him that she received her first lessons in medicine and with him she travelled to Istanbul. She subsequently undertook a number of journeys, to St Petersburg and Vienna and across Silesia and the Balkans. She also made her way to the Holy Land and Egypt. Rusiecka passed herself off as an oculist although she had never had any formal medical training. Nevertheless, she treated various diseases and ailments. The article presents the medical treatment applied by Rusiecka. Unfortunately, her memoirs did not describe them in detail and only provided general information on the progress of the disease and the therapeutic methods she employed.