Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 55-56. (Budapest, 1970)

TANULMÁNYOK - Benedek, István: The Illness and Death of Semmelweis (angol nyelvű közlemény)

At the time of the funeral Markusovszky announced that the Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly) will publish the whole post mortem report, and in advance he summed up its essential points:

3 "In addition to the chronic hyperaemia of the meninges and the symptoms of cerebral atrophy and chronic hydrocephalous, there was also an acute inflammatory process present in both the cerebrum and the myelon/' The acute inflammatory process was the outcome of the sepsis, the chronic symptoms, however, indicate that some damage to the nervous system had been existing for some time. The same is manifested in the post mortem report, sent to the Hetilap by Gusztáv Scheuthauer. Its summary relating to the nervous system : Hyperaemia meningum, hyperaemia et atrophia cerebri cum hydrocephalico chronico. Degeneratio grisea medullae spinalis. The above pathological anatomical picture does not prove paralysis, but does not disprove it either, it merely indicates the presence of some sort of chronic disorder. There is another interesting mystery here. In the report kept in the pathological anatomical institute of Vienna, which was first published by Leopold Schönbauer in 1947 and later in this country by László Haranghy in 1965, the expressions atrophia cerebri, and hydrocephalus chronicus are missing. Why were they left out from the report, or why were they added to it by Scheutheuer, cannot be unrevealed now; in the best faith it can be assumed that there was a difference of opinion among the pathologists, and the difference is its reflection. We do not know who performed the autopsy, whether it was Rokitansky, Meynert, Scheuthauer or someone else. It is possible that Scheuthauer did not agree with the author of the report, that is why he changed the text sent to the Orvosi Hetilap. Of course there are other possible explanations, none is more authentic than the other. The pathological histological study of the nervous system was carried out by Theodor Meynert. On the basis of his report it can be established that the signs of an acute toxic-infectious inflammation exceed those of chronic degeneration, which means that the death was caused by acute inflammation, although a chronic process was also present, but as to what that process was the report does not give sufficient footing. In the course of the disinterment of Semmelweis's mortal remains the anthropological examinations were performed by Lajos Bartucz, while the pathological ones by Gyula Regöly-Mérei. Naturally one could not expect to receive any decisive fact from the examination of the bones on the question of the mental disorder, while with the findings concerning the sepsis I shall deal presently. The negative fact that the bones bear no marks of syphilis prove only that Semmelweis did not reach the third stage (which is obvious from his case history), but it does not exclude the possibility of paralysis. Yet there is another mystery unfolding in connection with the exhumation. Namely professor Bartucz, shortly before his death, revealed to me during a personal interview that he had been unable to complete the examination of the disinterred bones because for reasons unknown to him suddenly they had been