Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever

by Ignaz Semmelweis

Book Overview

In 1859 a Hungarian obstetrician named Ignaz Semmelweis, reflecting on his years as resident in the Vienna maternity clinic, wrote a graphic account of his attempt to diagnose and eliminate the then epidemic scourge of childbed fever. The resulting Etiology triggered an immediate and international squall of protest from Semmelweis's colleagues; today it is recognized as a pioneering classic of medical history. Now, for the first time in many years,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299093646
• ISBN13: 9780299093648
• Release Date: September 1983
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Classic returns...

This is a reprint and translation of a groundbreaking work by an eminent scientist. Every hospital, university, and medical school library should have a copy of this work. At this price, they should have at least two copies. In addition to its importance for the medical profession, this book has a great deal of potential interest for historians and feminist scholars. Semmelweis was the father of modern antiseptic theory, the first to recognize a connection between medical students' visits to the dissecting lab and the deaths following their subsequent visits to the maternity hospital, with no washing of hands in between. His fellow physicians refused to listen to him, unwilling to believe that they themselves were carriers of disease. Semmelweis lost his reputation and his job, dying in disgrace, for his refusal to deny the truth. Only after his death, and the deaths of millions more women from childbed fever, were his theories finally recognized and accepted. For a fascinating look at Semmelweis the man, see Jens Bjorneboe's moving play, Semmelweis, published by Sun & Moon Press.