Sinclair, Sir William J.: Semmelweis. His Life and his Doctrine (Manchester, 1909)
V. Life in Buda-Pesth
PREPARATION OF THE iETIOLOGIE 195 Preparation of the “ Hitiologie ” ... of Puerperal Fever, 1857-60. It was in the autumn of 1857 that Semmelweis finally resolved to prepare and publish a book on the subject which occupied nearly all his thoughts and was the chief interest of his life. He began by compiling the vast amount of statistical material at his disposal. Well might Fritsch express his appreciation in terms already quoted: “Die vernichtende Logik seiner Statistik’’1; the words just lay hold of the most striking feature of the “JEtiologie’ Another remarkable feature is the intimate knowledge of the writings on puerperal fever of all countries and periods, especially of the records of the subject in the United Kingdom. It is humiliating for a British member of the medical profession to read the opinion of an English medical writer2 stated in spite of the overwhelming available evidence to the contrary, so late as 1875, that Semmelweis “gives proofs of possessing very limited knowledge indeed of the literature of his subject, and we cannot feel surprised that he finds but little difficulty in disposing of his opponents to his own satisfaction.” When we find the same writer committing himself to the opinion that “as an observer of pathological conditions he appears to have been decidedly inferior to Gordon” we can afford to ignore the misleading statements from first to last. We only mention it in illustration of the simple credulity and ignorance of English visitors to Vienna in Carl Braun’s time. The biographical portion of Die Ätiologie is scanty and disappointing, like the autobiographies of so many distinguished men of all nations, the most remarkable example being probably the Vita sua of George Buchanan, “the only man of genius his country ever produced” according to Dr. Samuel Johnson. Semmelweis says in the introduction : “ The object of 1. Grundzüge der Pathologie und Therapie des Kindbettfieber (1884). 2. Brit. Med. Journal, March, 1875.
