Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 55-56. (Budapest, 1970)

TANULMÁNYOK - Mádai Lajos: Semmelweis és a statisztikai tudomány (angol nyelvű közlemény)

SEMMELWEIS AND STATISTICAL SCIENCE* by LAJOS MÁDAI Tn my article I intend to deal with the questions which illuminate the statisA tical conceptions and methods of Semmelweis, their active role in the discovery of the aetiology of puerperal fever, one of the first applications of the methods of statistics in clinical medical science and its effects on the development of medical statistics. I. In the first part of the 19th century the advance in the field of scientific thinking opened up a new epoch in the history of medical science, the symptomatological approach gave way to the anatomical trend based on pathologic anatomy (2). In this new age Semmelweis started his career at the side of such prominent figures of "the second Viennese medical school" as Rokitansky in pathologic anatomy, Skoda in internal medicine, Hebra in dermatology, who all exercised a considerable influence on his scientific way of thinking and the development of his logic (2), The first part of the 19th century represents a qualitative change not only in the natural sciences but also in the social sciences, including statistical science. The descriptive statistical school which dominated the 17th and 18th centuries was succeeded by the days of the political arithmeticians, which led into modern pragmatic statistics with the appearence of Quetelet. The latters already applied more modern mathematical methods to the investigation of the laws of society. That new period saw the employment of statistical induction, the disclosure and explanation of empirically recognized tendencies also in medical science. In the aetiological researches of Semmelweis considerable role was played by the quantitative aspect, the scientific application of the methods of statistics, and the presentation of qualitative differences and causal connections. That new quantitative approach and the Berlin group of natural scientists, physicists, and physiologists all had their impact on the progressive physicians of the second Viennese medical school. The scientific statistical approach fell on good ground in the case of Semmelweis, too. * Magyarul megjelent „Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp és a statisztikai tudomány" címmel a Statisztikai Szemle 1968. évfolyamának lo. számában. (Szerk.)