Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 66-68. (Budapest, 1973)

FORUM - Semmelweis kórtörténetének nyomában — Bécs és Budapest levelezése (magyar, angol és német nyelven)

4. The letter of Prof. Dr. Imre Zoltán, Rector of the Medical University of Budapest to the Lord Mayor of Vienna Budapest, 9th December 1967. Dear Sir, The Rector and Senate of the Medical University of Budapest begs to had you the following memorandum. As it is known, Dr. IGNÁZ PHILIPP SEMMELWEIS professor of midwifery at the University of Budapest died on 13th August 1865 in Vienna (Mental Hospital of Lower Austria or the Mental Hospital of Prof. Dr. Mildner). Our university celebrates the 150th anniversary of his birth in the summer of 1968. The case history of his illness has not been published so far in extenso. The medical historical literature is keenly interested in disease Semmelweis's, the views are manifold, some think of paralysis, while others consider it a exogenous, infectious-bacterium toxiconic reaction-type (of delirious character) produced by sepsis. The publication of the case history and its supplements (the reports of the professors of Budapest) would be significant from a scientific point of view and such a wish is in the limelight of international scientific in erest. The publication of case histories of significant personalities is an everyday phenomenon, let us refer here to the cases of Beethoven, Nietzsche, Goethe, Chopin or Sophie Charlotte, queen of Prussia, etc. Dr. István Darvas, historian from Budapest has been dealing with the question of Semmelweis's case history for a long time. According to a written information dating from 12th January 1961 he was told that the case history together with the report of the professors from Budapest (Dr. J. von Balassa, Dr. J. von Bókay and Dr. J. Wagner) are preserved in Vienna but as blocked material cannot be published. The Magistratsabteilung 17 of the Town Vienna informed Dr. Darvas in a letter dating form 12th August 1963 and signed by the Oberamtsrat Sandler that

.. . "the arguments advanced in the letter from 19. 7. 1963 exclude the presentation of the case history of Semmelweis. If physicians who are legally allowed to have a look at the case history, published their extracts from it, they do so on their own personal responsibility and they have to count with the actual legal consequences, but you cannot expect an office whose duty is to watch on the keeping of the law, to break these principles ..." Dr. Darvas produced us the above mentioned informations as to the Rector of the University. Being aware of our scientific duties we apply to the honoured Lord Mayor as a rector and also acting on the Senate's authority, to grant us the permission to have insight into the case history of Semmelweis, to prepare photo copies 11 Orvostörténeti Közlemények 66—68