"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world." - George Bernard Shaw
In 1818, Ignaz Phillip Semesters was born into a world of dying women.
The finest hospitals lost one out of six young mothers to the scourge of
"childbed fever." A doctor's daily routine began in the dissecting room
where he performed autopsies. From there he made his way to the
hospital to examine expectant mothers without ever pausing to wash his
hands. Dr. Semmelweis was the first man in history to associate such
examinations with the resultant infection and death. His own practice
was to wash with a chlorine solution, and after eleven years and the
delivery of 8,537 babies, he lost only 184 mothers--about one in fifty.
He spent the vigor of his life lecturing and debating with his colleagues. Once he argued, "Puerperal fever is caused by decomposed material, conveyed to a wound...I have shown how it can be prevented. I have proved all that I have said. But while we talk ,talk,
He spent the vigor of his life lecturing and debating with his colleagues. Once he argued, "Puerperal fever is caused by decomposed material, conveyed to a wound...I have shown how it can be prevented. I have proved all that I have said. But while we talk ,talk,
