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

TANULMÁNYOK - Mádai Lajos: Semmelweis és a statisztikai tudomány (angol nyelvű közlemény)

investigations on a widespread phenomenon, and not only his recognition of the possibility of the use of statistical observation to fight puerperal fever, but also his methods of analysis (time-sequences, various ways of arrangements, the method of parallel changes, etc.) which were original in many respects. Ten years after his death Markusovszky also emphasized the importance of the statistical method: "By the help of the science of numbers ... and the data thus gained, the science of public hygiene prevented many erroneous observations and gave directions where to look for the real causes and regularities of the diseases on the basis of numerical relations collected amidst both similar and different circumstances." (21). In Hungary, following the descriptive statistical trend of the 18th and 19th centuries, and more narrow activity of the political statisticians, the first outstanding representative of the age of modern pragmatic statistics was Semmelweis (22). The study of the statistical conceptions and methods of Semmelweis proves that he was a pioneer in scientific medical statistics not only in this country but on the international scene as well. By establishing the notion of asepsis the influence of Semmelweis continued to be effective in the fields of obstetrics, surgery, and public health, and affected the development of medical statistics and demography as well. In Hungary Vilmos Tauffer elaborated the methods of maternity statistics, which was introduced over the whole country in 1932 within the framework of the new obstetrical regulations. The statistical observation of mortality caused by puerperal fever — including deliveries outside the hospitals — was prescribed in Saxony in 1882 and in Prussia in 1883 (23). The detailed systematization of the various illnesses connected with pregnancy and childbirth, especially sepsis at the delivery and in childbirth played an important role in the international classification of diseases and the causes of death. There is a vast literature on the clinical problems of puerperal fever, written after the death of Semmelweis. It includes several excellent medical statistical monographs (Prinzing, Westergaard, Tauffer, Tornay, Szél, etc.). The Vlllth International Congress on Public Health and Demography held in Budapest between September 1—9 1894 was an important event in the history of statistics. In course of the congress a Semmelweis memorial session was held in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on 2nd September where professor Hueppe of Prague spoke on the merits and scientific significance of that benefactor of mankind (24). Since the age of Semmelweis there has been much interplay between the development of medical science and the rapid expansion of modern statistical science. Even with the most up-to-date technical equipment at their disposal, theoretical and practical clinical research, pharmaceutical research, etc. cannot dispense with the application of statistical methods. Epidemiological researches investigating the most widespread diseases and their regularities, social hygiene, health organizational science, all consider medical statistics and demography as being in the centre of their methods. (25). On the other hand the rapid advance of medical science had its impact on the