Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 206-209. (Budapest, 2009)

KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK —COMMUNICATIONS - Putnam, Constance E.: Semmelweis amerikai szemmel

198 Comm. de //ist. Artis Med. 206- 209 (2009) Mostanság heves vita folyik a kórházon belüli fertőzésekről és ragályos betegségekről, illetve ennek a kapcsán a kézmosás fontosságáról is. A kézmosás, a hügiéné fontosságát hirdető plakátok mindenhol láthatók, ám Semmelweist egy sem említi. Az amerikaiak Semmelweisről alkotott képe tehát manapaság leginkább Nuland müvén alapul. Semmelweis azonban jóval több volt egzotikus különcnél. Amerika tisztában van Semmelweis érdemeivel, róla magáról azonban jóformán semmit nem tud. És ezen változtatni érdemes, sőt kell is. CONSTANCE E. PUTNAM, PhD independent scholar cputconcord(3>hotmail.com SUMMARY The author explains how she became interested in Semmelweis and then reviews briefly a number of the books that are the chief sources of information about Semmelweis available in English. She gives a critique that helps explain why knowledge about Semmelweis, his life and his work, tends, in the English-speaking world, to be somewhat superficial. Among the reasons, is that many of the books ostensibly about Semmelweis (including the first five discussed here, by De Kruif, Robinson, Fenster, Sigerist, and Hellman) give a brief account of his life along with those of other famous figures; in other words, Semmelweis is presented as simply one among many men of importance. Three more books (by Rich, Morton, and Piper) are novels, making it impossible for readers to be confident how much is fact and how much fiction. The three more serious works of history (by Slaughter, Carter and Carter, and Nuland) are all certainly worth reading, but each has problems. Slaughter telis the story with perhaps too much drama, the Carters make it perhaps too dry, and Nuland has an agenda - getting across his strong views about Semmelweis's character. The final book (by Loudon) is important because it does the best recent job of putting the basics of the Semmelweis story into the larger context of the tragedy of puerperal fever. IRODALOM 1. Fenster, Julie M.: Mavericks, Miracles and Medicine The Pioneers Who Risked Their Lives to Bring Medicine into the Modern /ige. New York: Carroll and Graaf, 2003. Hellman, Hal: Great Feuds in Medicine: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever. New York, John Wiley 8i Sons, 2001. Kruif, Paul de: Men Against Death. New York, Harcourt Brace, 1932; London, Scientific Book Club, 1938. Robinson, Victor: Pathfinders in Medicine. New York, Medical Life Press, 1929. Sigerist, Henry E.: The Great Doctors: A Biographical History of Medicine (trans. Eden and Cedar Paul). Garden City NY, Doubleday, 1958.