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

TANULMÁNYOK - Regöly-Mérei, Gyula: The Pathological Reconstruction of Semmelweis's Disease on the Basis of the Catamnestic Analysis and Palaeopathological Examination (angol nyelvű közlemény)

Dowell, Thomas Spencer Wells began to apply ovariotomy on a wider frange in 1858, It was Semmelweis

1 s merit that he recognized the importance of ovariotomy on the one hand, and introduced a new surgical treatment in Hungary, on the other. 7. Ha was a member of the board of directors of the Hungarian Medical Publishing Society from 1864 and took an active part in selecting the books to be published. 8. In 1864 and 1865 he was a member of the reform committees for medical education and health. 9. From 1863 to 1865 he wrote five scientific publications. At the end of the article published in the June 18th 1865 issue of the Orvosi Hetilap there is the remark "to be continued" ; however there was no continuation because Semmelweis got ill meantime. This, however, goes to show that the article had not been written long ago but only a short while before it had been published. At this time Semmelweis edited the gynaecological and paediatrical supplement of the Orvosi Hetilap. In the latter far-reaching literary data were treated and his own experiences summed up in a concise, clear style. The many-folded medical activity and pertinacious efforts prove intact mental faculties. There are no psychotic symptoms or signs of paralysis. b) Analysing Semmelweis's handwriting In our book on the Disease of Semmelweis ( 52) published in 1965, the facsimile of the notes in Hungarian Semmelweis had used for compiling catalogues were reproduced with the statement that the faultless content speaks against paralysis. Referring to the smudged text, abundance of letters full of flourishes and several mis-spelled words, I. Benedek (7) says that although these signs do not prove paralysis they might rouse the suspicion of it. In view of Benedek's remark I re-examined the handwriting of Semmelweis. I went over the original autographs in the Budapest Semmelweis Museum, the photocopy of the letter kept in the Library of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine and the manuscripts in the library of the Budapest Medical University which contain the notes Benedek refers to as well as the notes in German Semmelweis had used for compiling the catalogues, discovered by Bolányi and Palatkás but not published hitherto (Fig. 1). The facsimiles of Semmelweis's manuscripts appeared in the publications of Antall and collaborators (5), and of Regöly-Mérei (52). From the aspect of graphology, large progressive type letters, girlands and loops, occasionally letters with angled or curved endings are characteristic of Semmelweis'

s handwriting; the t's are centrifugally crossed. All these characteristics correspond to extraversion in a typological sense according to Jung ( 112), but cannot be considered a pathological state of mind. Many experts identify the extraverted type with a cycloid mental constitution according to Kretschmer. The writing of Semmelweis does not point to inhibitions for the writing of inhibited persons shows careful corrections, tracing of irregular thickness and a markedly narrow way of writing. Semmelweis's writing is dynamic and bold; the distance between