Sinclair, Sir William J.: Semmelweis. His Life and his Doctrine (Manchester, 1909)
IV. Spread of the Doctrine During the Vienna Period
72 THE REVOLUTION plume in one hand, and some implement in the other more relevant to the professional situation than the sword. The Emperor and his family finally fled from Vienna in October, but it was not until after deplorable scenes of bloodshed, including assassinations, that Prince Windischgrätz dominated the city and order was restored. The Emperor abdicated in December in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph, and the revolutionary movement in Vienna came to an end. But its influence upon the fortunes of many participators was only to appear later, and especially was this true of the career of Semmelweis. The present venerable Emperor was then a young man of eighteen; the reactionary bureaucracy dominated the situation in Vienna, Prague, Buda-Pesth, Milan and Venice, and they made their power felt. In Buda-Pesth the Revolution ruined the Semmelweis family. When political affairs had been arranged, and routine medical work in Vienna had been resumed, a movement for medical reform acquired such importance that it had to be recognised by the new Minister of Public Instruction. This movement had far from a beneficial influence upon the professional career of Semmelweis. Several of the arm-chair professors of the Medical Faculty had to be pensioned off, but Klein had such influence with certain official persons that he was permitted to retain his position. The control of medical education was transferred to a Board of Studies consisting of the Faculty of Medicine, and it soon became evident that the Board was composed of two factions, the reformers and reactionaries, between whom a bitter feud soon broke out. Unfortunately for Semmelweis his personal friends and supporters were all reformers, his chief, Professor Klein, was an influential reactionary. Semmelweis could naturally take no part in the disputes of the professors, but he became a passive victim to the hostility of the more powerful faction towards his friends.
