Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 46-47. (Budapest, 1968)

In memoriam I. Ph. Semmelweis (Farkas Károly)

Asepsis, far beyond what it meant in the stemming of puerperal fever, has become the symbol of medical activity, equivalent to the maxim of "nil nocere". Perhaps we can do no greater harm to the patient than by treating him impurely, with unclean instruments, in circumstances exposing him to infection, sepsis. The world is now celebrating the 160th anniversary of the birth of Semmelweis ; renowned scientists from home and abroad, members of scientific societies are adding importance to the proceedings. The Semmelweis Museum contributes to the celebrations with its exhibition "Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts". The thousand year old fight of science for the life of people, for the life and health of the individual, has never before reached such a stirring stage than in our present age, when the world is threatened by total destruction in the disguise of world-saving science. Three years ago Orvosképzés published a special Semmelweis issue, which contained the material of the commemorating scientific session, emphasizing the fight against iatrogenic damages. This fight has not ceased and has become inseparable from the name of Semmelweis. One important aspect of his ideas is that asepsis, pursued and practised as he did, is essentially identical with profilaxis, the highest quality medico-sanitary practice of our present days. Its importance is amply indicated by the results Semmelweis had achieved using relatively simple devices. The last hundred years have seen much progress since the remarkably simple concept of "decomposed organic matter" ; molecular biology has opened up the gates of a new scientific field, the promised land towards the solution of the most burning questions. The brilliancy of Semmelweis's discovery cannot be better proved than by the fact that the importance of asepsis and antisepsis for staving off "decomposed organic matter" has not diminished but greatly increased since then. Károly Farkas