“To lie belly down on a warm oven”: medical enlightenment in the Russia of Pushkin's time

The article is devoted to the history of medical enlightenment in the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century. The government policy in the field of medical enlightenment, diseases and their treatment as an integral part of the everyday life of the inhabitant of the Pushkin era, superstitions and customs in the treatment of diseases, the activities of professional doctors and healers in the perception of the population are investigated on the basis of archival documents and various published sources. The author comes to the conclusion that, despite the superstitious interpretations of the disease and understanding of its treatment methods, which were often revealed on the pages of specialized publications in the 19th century, medical enlightenment gained strength and gradually penetrated the consciousness of the inhabitants of the Russian Empire. The cholera epidemic that swept the country helped to arouse interest in disease prevention and health protection. Gradually, reasonable ideas and achievements of modern medicine in the field of hygiene and sanitation, as well as a healthy lifestyle, as they were comprehended by the contemporaries in the first half of the 19th century, penetrated into the environment of the educated and propertied class. Echoes of this knowledge reached the peasants’ life. The government’s targeted policy aimed at promoting modern medical views and recommendations, definitely, played a positive role in this process.