J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)
M. Vida : Serving two Nations: Tivadar Duka (1825—1908)
M . Vi d a : Serving two Nations : Tivadar Duka . 215 FOR THE RECOGNITION OF SEMMELWEIS The wide interests of Duka are amply shown by the fact that even in the emigration, far-away from Europe, he noticed Semmelweis's epoch-making discovery, which was for long hotly debated by physicians in the continent and was acknowledged and adopted only after decades of fighting. As is well known, Semmelweis published his Aetiology in 18(50, trying to prove his theory. Duka read Markusovszky's review of the bock in Orvosi Hetilap, 6 9 but even before that he had heard about the lecture delivered in the Society of Physicians. The first attack was made by August Breisky, professor of the maternity school in Prague, and Markusovszky reported it in the July 7 issue of his journal, simultaneously calling attention to Tivadar Duka's article on the discovery in the 1860 February issue of The Indian Lancet. 1 0 Here Duka summed up Semmelweis's views and after making a comparison with English practice, expressed his full agreement with the use of chlorine water for washing the hands. He even recommended the changing of cloth in the critical moments and added with irony that even a temporary abandonment of practice may be justified. His statement bears special significance as it was made directly defore the appearance of the "open letters". Even later in England Duka never ceased to propagate Semmelweis's cause. English medical opinion learned about the gist of the discovery through him, who wrote an article on it in 1886, which appeared separately two years later. 71 It was this writing which called Lister's attention to Semmelweis. In England the first news about Semmelweis appeared already in 1849 when C. H. Roųth gave an account of what he had seen in Vienna. 7 2 It was followed by several articles both in Britain and on the continent, but the first comprehensive monograph appeared only in 1885 from the pen of J. Bruck. 73 That was Duka's primary source on Semmelweis's career and writings. Bruck emphasized that in Semmelweis's opinion promaine was not the sole cause of puerperal fever but —to quote Hebra's words said in 1850—"the cause inducing puerperal fever can be regarded as an infection by injurious excretion, originating in a living organism ." Duka finished his article by quoting Dr. Dorn, who said in 1886 referring to Semmelweis's statistical figures that in Germany the sad days so seriously judged by Semmelweis were already over, but in spite of that nobody can question his merits. 7 4 That Lister's attention was directed at the Hungarian protagonist of asepsisantisepsis indeed by Duka is verified by the British discoverer of antisepsis 6 9 Orvosi Hetilap, 1861. Nos. 10., 12., and 14. 7 0 The Indian Lancet, 1860. No. 3., pp. 35-36. 7 1 Duka, Theodore : "Childbed Fever: Its causes and prevention; a life's history." The Lancet, 1886. pp. 206-208., 246-248., Hertford, 1888. 7 2 Transactions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. 1849. 7 3 Bruck, Jakab: Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp. Budapest, 1885. Bruck, Jacob: Igñaz Philip Semmelweis. Wien, 1887. 7 i Zeitschrift zur Geburtshilfe und Gynaecologie. Bd. 12. Heft 1. 1886.
