Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)

The Life of Ignác Semmelweis (1818-1865)

ric Clinic. He had to wait for two years until he was appointed first as temporary then as regular assistant in 1846. But in these two years he carried on his regular autopsy work beside. Rokitansky and attended the lectures of Skoda

, too. Lajos Markusovszky, the other outstanding Hungarian representative of medicine, also stayed in Vienna at that time (between 1845 and 1847) as a schoolarship holder. They became good friends for a lifetime, Markusovszky was an ardent supporter of Semmelweis and encouraged him and inspired him in all his life. THE GREAT DISCOVERY The General Hospital in Vienna (Allgemeines Krankenhaus) was built during the reign of Emperor Joseph II (1780-1790) (Fig.95.). Its Obstetric Clinic was established already in the first year of the opening of the hospital, in 1784. During four decades the mortality rate of labouring women was as low as 1,25 percent. But in the twenties of the 19th century the mortality rate increased considerably. The situation had not changed even when the lying-in department of the hospital had been divided into two separate clinics. The director of the ist Clinic remained Professor Klein, while Professor Bartsch was appointed head of the 2nd Clinic. A definite change was noticeable, however, from 1840 onwards, when an act was passed to separate the instruction of the medical students from that of the students of midwifery. The ist Clinic was made available for medical students only, whereas the 2nd Clinic was open to midwife students only. Between 1841 and 1846 in the ist Clinic, out of 20,042 labouring women 1989 died (9,92%), while in the 2nd Clinic 691 out of 17.791 (3,38%). The most dreadful "epidemic" ravaged between October 1841 and May 1843. There had been months (October 1842) when as much as 29,3% of all labouring women died in child-bed fever, before being to able to enjoy the maternal joys. The rate of puerperal mortality and the remarkable difference in it between the two clinics arose the interest of the officials, too. Commissions were sent out to investigate, but without any result. Puerperal fever was considered a contagious disease and treated as an epidemic. Several theories were created on its cause

: the hospital being overcrowded, the manner of attendance, etc. Fears from the dangers of labouring in hospital and the difference between the two clinics soon spread in Vienna. Puerperal fever scarcely occured among women who gave birth to children at home or among the worst conditions in the street. Women to be admitted to one of the two departments did their utmost to be admitted to the clinic of Professor Bartsch. But of course it could not always be attained. Those unmarried mothers who were forced to labour in hospital in order to receive free medical assistance and foundling hospital for their children, had little chance