Sinclair, Sir William J.: Semmelweis. His Life and his Doctrine (Manchester, 1909)
IV. Spread of the Doctrine During the Vienna Period
SKODAS ADDRESS 85 and his phalanx of sycophants appear to have had for their object to drive Semmelweis out of Vienna in despair. They made statements to his detriment about the work of the First Clinic bordering on falsehood, and Klein refused all access to the records of the department, so as to deprive him of the evidence in support of his doctrine. Still he had with timely industry prepared a large amount of evidence in the form of notes and records of incidents, and as his friends could not persuade him to write or to address the Medical Society, Skoda came once more to his aid. He obtained from Semmelweis all his notes and made a careful study of them, and then prepared an address for the Vienna Academy of Sciences. Skoda’s address was delivered on October 18, 1849. It was entitled: “ On the discovery by Dr. Semmelweis of the true cause of the unusually frequent occurrence of disease among lying-in women in the Vienna Lying-in Hospital and the means of reducing the cases of this disease to the normal number.” This contribution to the discussion of the Lehre was so important that it is rightly included in the Works of Semmelweis by von Györy, and may be there read in full by the English reader of the German language. SKODA AT THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Skoda began by referring to the subject of his address as “ one of the most important discoveries in the domain of Medicine.” He first of all stated the facts and the conclusions from the combination of which the discovery resulted. He eliminated the epidemic theory, and then traced the history of the Lying-in Hospital in its bearings on the discovery. The various theories of the causes of the mortality are brought under review, just as Semmelweis had discussed them many a time and oft with his friends, and would do again formally ten years later in the VEtiologie. In fact Skoda’s address contained the essential portion of the sEtiologie, and should have made impossible the misunderstandings
