IGNATZ PHILIPP See also:

• IGNATZ PHILIPP SEMMELWEISS (1818-1865)

SEMMELWEISS (1818-1865)  , Hungarian physician, was See also:

• BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born at Buda on the 1st of See also:

• JULY

July 1818, and was educated at the See also:

• UNIVERSITIES

universities of Pest and See also:

• VIENNA (Ger. Wien; Lat. Vindobona)
• VIENNA, CONGRESS OF (1814-1815)

Vienna . At first he intended to study See also:

• LAW
• LAW (0. Eng. lagu, M. Eng. lawe; from an old Teutonic root lag, " lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. lex, Fr. loi)
• LAW, JOHN (1671—1729)
• LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761)

law, but soon abandoned it for See also:

• MEDICINE

medicine; and such was his promise that, even as an undergraduate, he attracted the See also:

• ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention of men like See also:

• JOSEPH
• JOSEPH, COMTE DE (1785-1870)
• JOSEPH, FATHER (FRANCOIS LECLERC DU TREMBLAY) (1577-1638)

Joseph Skoda and Carl See also:

• ROKITANSKY, CARL, FREIHERR VON (1804-1878)

Rokitansky . He graduated M.D. at Vienna in 1844, and was then appointed assistant See also:

• PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

professor in the maternity See also:

• DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department, under Johann See also:

• KLEIN, JULIUS LEOPOLD (1810–1876)

Klein . In Klein's See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time the deaths in this department from what was then known as " puerperal See also:

• FEVER (Lat. febris, connected with fervere, to burn)

fever " became portentous, the ratio being rarely under 5•o3 and some-times exceeding 7.45% . Between See also:

• OCTOBER

October 1841 and May 1843, of 5139 parturient See also:

• WOMEN

women 829 died; giving the terrible See also:

• DEATH

death-See also:

• RATE

rate of 16%, not counting those of patients transferred to other wards . It was observed that this rate of mortality prevailed in the students' clinic; in the midwives' clinic it ruled much See also:

• LOWER

lower . See also:

• SEMMELWEISS, IGNATZ PHILIPP (1818-1865)

Semmelweiss found no satisfactory explanations of this mortality in such causes as overcrowding, fear, mysterious atmospheric influences or even contaminated wards; yet that the cause See also:

• LAY

lay in some See also:

• LOCAL

local conditions he See also:

• FELT (cognate with Ger. Filz, Du. vilt, Swed. and Dan. fill; the root is unknown; the word has given Med. Lat. filtrum, " filter ")

felt certain . The patients would See also:

• DIE
• DIE (Fr. de, from Lat. datum, given)

die in rows, others escaping; and women de-livered before arrival, or prematurely, would See also:

• ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape . At last, he tells us, the death of a colleague from a See also:

• DISSECTION (from Lat. dissecare, to cut apart)

dissection See also:

• WOUND (O. Eng. wund,connected with a Teutonic verb, meaning to strive, fight, suffer, seen in O. Eng. winnan, whence Eng. " win ")

wound " unveiled to my mind an identity " with the fatal puerperal cases; and the beginning of a scientific See also:

• PATHOLOGY (from Gr. raBos, suffering)

pathology of septicaemia was made . The students often came to the lying-in wards from the dissecting-See also:

• ROOM

room, their hands cleansed with See also:

• SOAP

soap and See also:

• WATER

water only . In May 1847 Semmelweiss prescribed ablutions with chlorinated See also:

• LIME
• LIME (O. Eng. lim, Lat. limes, mud, from linere, to smear)

lime water: in that See also:

• MONTH
• MONTH (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Mond, Du. maand, Dan. maaned, &c., and cognate with Lat. mensis, Gr. µi7v, &c., in other branches of the Indo-Germanic family; all ultimately from the root seen in the word for the moon in nearly all those languages

month the mortality stood at 12.24%; before the end of the See also:

• YEAR

year it had fallen to 3'04, and in the second year to 1'27; thus even surpassing the results in the midwives' clinic . Skoda and other eminent physicians were convinced by these results (Zeiischrift d. k. k .

Gesellschaft der Arzte in Wien, J. vi . B. i. p . 107) . Klein, however, apparently blinded by See also:

• JEALOUSY (adapted from Fr. jalousie, formed from jaloux, jealous, Low Lat. zelosus, Gr. j'i os, ardour, zeal, from the root seen in '&u', to boil, ferment; cf. " yeast ")

jealousy and vanity, supported by other reactionary teachers, and aided by the disasters which then befell the Hungarian nation, drove Semmelweiss from Vienna in 1849 . Fortunately, in the following year Semmelweiss was appointed obstetric physician at Pest in the maternity department, then as terribly afflicted as Klein's clinic had been; and during his six years' See also:

• TENURE (Fr. tenure, from Lat. tenere, to hold)

tenure of See also:

• OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

office he succeeded, by antiseptic methods, in reducing the mortality to o.85% . Semmelweiss was slow and reluctant as an author, or no doubt his opinions would have obtained an earlier See also:

• VOGUE, EUGENE MELCHIOR, COMTE DE (1848- )

vogue; moreover, he was not only See also:

• TENDER

tender-hearted, but also irascible, impatient and tactless . Thus it cannot be said that the stupidity or malignity of his opponents was wholly to blame for the tragical issue of the conflict which brought this See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man of See also:

• GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius within the See also:

• GATES, HORATIO (1728-1806)

gates of an See also:

• ASYLUM (from Gr. b.-, privative, arid earl, right'of seizure)
• ASYLUM, RIGHT OF (Fr. droit d'asile; Ger. Asylrecht)

asylum on the loth of July 1865 . Strangeto say, he brought with him into this See also:

• RETREAT (O. Fr. retrete, mod. retraite, from Lat. retrahere, to draw back)

retreat a dissection wound of the right See also:

• HAND
• HAND (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Hand, Goth. handus)
• HAND, FERDINAND GOTTHELF (1786-185r)

hand, and on the 17th of the following See also:

• AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August he died, a victim of the very disease for the See also:

• RELIEF

relief of which he had already sacrificed See also:

• HEALTH

health and See also:

• FORTUNE, ROBERT (1813-188o)

fortune . His See also:

• CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief publication was Die Atiologie der Begriff and die Prophylaxis See also:

• DES

des Kindbettfiebers (Vienna, 1861) . There are See also:

• BIOGRAPHIES

biographies by Hegar (See also:

• FREIBURG

Freiburg, 1882), Bruck (Vienna and Tischen, 1887), Duka (See also:

• HERTFORD
• HERTFORD, EARLS AND MARQUESSES OF

Hertford, 1882), See also:

• GROSSE, JULIUS WALDEMAR (1828—1902)

Grosse (Vienna, 1898) and See also:

• SCHURER, EMIL (1844–1910)

Schurer von Waldheim (Vienna, 1905) . For the relations in the See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order of See also:

• DISCOVERY

discovery of Semmelweiss to See also:

• LISTER, JOSEPH LISTER
• LISTER, MARTIN (c. 1638-1712)

Lister see LISTER . (T .

C .