Palla Ákos szerk.: Az Országos Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közleményei 24. (Budapest, 1962)

An unknown autograph of Semmelweis

Through a happy coincidence we acquired a short time ago an inquiry of the imperial-royal county law-court of Zalaegerszeg. The inquiry is addressed to the medical faculty a the University in Pest concerning the violent death of a child, stating the differing opinions of the experts and asking for medical opinian. The questions are the following: "If in the present case the child died in consequence of a violent and wilfully produced stroke: are the lines visible on the neck of the child entirely due to violence? or were they caused perchance by the umbilical cord? Further, if these lines could not have been produced merely through an act of violence, would they still not indicate that the stroke has been brought about forcibly and wilfully, what has been its cause and what caused the child's death?" These are the questions of the law-court in Zalaegerszeg. The text goes on: "The opinion of undersigned concerning the present case is the following. As no marks of external violence can be detected on the body and, as the folds on the neck cannot be taken as signs of such - otherwise a haemorrhage would forcibly have occurred - the stroke as shown by the post-mortem examination must have happended through natural (not violent) causes. Thus the stroke can and must have been the consequence of the confinement. Semmelweis. Arányi, professor of path, anatomy." This text is written by Semmelweis himself. If we confine ourselves to this report on a medical case and starting from this point only, we suppose that Semmelweis wrote his letter to the Academy with somebody's help, would it be credible that several years later such a report which he wanted to be signed also by his colleague, Prof. Arányi, should have been written at dictation? Such a supposition seems to be ridiculous and morbid. Excluding therefore such a possibility and putting aside all suppositions, the importance of this autograph sonsists in letting us have a glimpse into Semmelweis' widespread activities in his last years. The report is clear, written in excellent Hungarian; this indiscutable fact should answer all questions. The autograph has been discovered recently, it probably came to light at a sorting out of a file-department and plays now a decisive part in the great controversy, proving at the same time that in medical history all the keepsakes of the past, the estate of our great men,