[Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865)] – [Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880)] - photo 1
[Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865)] – [Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880)] - photo 2
[Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865)] – [Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880)] - photo 3

[Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865)] – [Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880)]

Lot 42
28.04.2021 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 12 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 519332
Lot 42 | [Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865)] – [Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880)]
Estimate value
£ 12 000 – 18 000
[Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865)] – [Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880)]
‘Höchst wichtige Erfarhrungen über die Ätiologie der in Gebäranstalten epidemischen Puerperalfieber’ (–‘Fortsetzung der Erfahrungen’). In: Zeitschrift der k. k. Gesellschaft der Aerzte zu Wien 4 (2) (1847), pp. 242-244; 5 (1) (1849), pp. 64-65. Vienna: Kaulfuss Witwe, Prandel & Comp., 1847-1849.
First edition, journal issue, of Semmelweis's epoch-making discovery of the importance of hand-washing in preventing puerperal fever, one of the greatest achievements in the history of medicine.

In 1847, as a young house officer of the First Obstetrical Clinic of the Vienna General Hospital, teaching institute of the University of Vienna, Semmelweis was presented with a remarkable situation: in the Hospital's two maternity wards, one, his First Clinic, was faced with extremely high maternal and neonatal mortality, to the order of 13 percent, while the other, the Second Clinic, displayed a low death rate of only 2 percent of the patients. The only discernible difference between the two clinics was that the First Clinic was used as a teaching facility for medical students, while the Second Clinic was used to teach midwives. In a ‘brilliant example of fact-finding, meaningful statistical analysis, and keen inductive reasoning’ (DSB), Semmelweis made good use of this ‘built-in control group,’ and deduced that the prevalence of fatal disease in the one clinic was caused by an infective agent carried by the medical students directly from the autopsy dissecting rooms to the delivery rooms. He immediately instituted in his ward a strict policy of prophylactic hand-washing using chlorinated limewater, which, despite initial resistance from the staff, he was able to enforce, bringing about a dramatic drop in the mortality rate. Perhaps out of reluctance to ruffle any feathers, Semmelweis refrained from publishing the results of his experiment, restricting himself to informal communications to colleagues and to a few lectures delivered in 1850. Sensing the vital importance of informing the medical public of this means of saving lives, Semmelweis's colleague Ferdinand von Hebra, one of the leading lights of the new Second Vienna Medical School, published the present article and its continuation, briefly describing Semmelweis's discovery, which he compares in importance to Jenner's discovery of the smallpox vaccine, and urging all members of the obstetrical community to institute the handwashing in order to test the results for themselves. Garrison-Morton 6275; PMM 316b; Waller, p. 390; Norman 1925.

4 volumes in 3, quarto (227 x 140mm). Occasional illustrations in the text, 15 lithographed plates of which most folding and 1 in partial colour (some light spotting). Zeitschrift 4 (vols. I and II) bound in 2 volumes and Zeitschrift 5 (vols. I and II) bound in 1, uniform contemporary blue paper-covered boards with spine labels gilt (extremities lightly rubbed).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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14.04.2021 – 28.04.2021
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