Sinclair, Sir William J.: Semmelweis. His Life and his Doctrine (Manchester, 1909)
IV. Spread of the Doctrine During the Vienna Period
84 SKODA AND KLEIN appeared to demand from him some public exposition of his doctrine; but nothing would induce him to address the Medical Society which had given him an invitation so flattering to a young man in his position. Skoda then advised Semmelweis to occupy his time with experiments on animals, and every facility was given for the purpose. So he and Lautner, Rokitansky’s assistant, set to work in a zealous manner upon the dreary research. These experiments are given in detail in the sEtiologie and they are mentioned with approval by some biographers, but as a matter of fact they never led to anything. Semmelweis at a later period, even when a grant of money was voted for the purpose by the Society for the advancement of Science, refused to resume the experiments on the ground that the clinical evidence was sufficient to establish the truth of his doctrine—and he was right. After Haller had completed his report on the work of the General Hospital for 1848 it was found that he had generously devoted several pages to the Discovery of Semmelweis, and he was by no means sparing in his expressions of appreciation. It was in this Report, part of which had already been read at the Medical Society, that he reached his reasoned conclusion with regard to the “immeasurable importance” of the Semmelweis Doctrine for Surgery. This was probably the first time in the history of medicine that any suggestion was ever made regarding the importance of prophylaxis, that is, of antiseptics in the practice of Surgery. And this was in the spring of the year 1849. The solemn conventional professors and teachers of surgery at the General Hospital then smiled sarcastically at their colleague, the physician who expressed opinions upon surgical questions; they looked upon Haller as a phantastic enthusiast and treated his inspiration with contempt. Semmelweis was elected a member of the Medical Society in June of the same year. The difficulties put in the way of Semmelweis by Klein
