History of the RSM - October 2011
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.IGNAZ PHILLIP SEMMELWEIS
(1818 – 1865)
Die Aetiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers. Pest, Vienna & Leipzig : C.A. Hartleben's Verlags-Expedition, 1861.
Grolier 72
"Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis's discovery of the etiology and prevention of childbed fever was an epochal event in the history of medicine for its importance in saving the lives and preventing the suffering of women in childbirth...In 1847 Semmelweis instituted a policy in the maternity division [at the First Obstetrical Clinic of the Allgemeines Krankenhaus, Vienna, under Johann Klein] that required hand-washing with chlorinated limewater; within one month the mortality from puerperal fever plummeted from 12.4 to 2.4 percent."
The Grolier Club
One hundred books famous in medicine. Conceived, organized, and with an introduction by Haskell F. Norman; edited by Hope Mayo. New York, Grolier Club, 1995
One of the two copies of this edition held at the RSM Library is bound with an autograph letter from the author (probably to Dr. Routh).
This is one of twenty selected books famous in medicine, from Hippocrates to Watson & Crick, on display at the RSM Library until 29 October 2011.
Previous features of the month:
- September 2011 - The signature of Thomas Beddoes
- August 2011 - Librarians' Room 23
- July 2011 - History of the RSM
- June 2011 - Occult Physick
- May 2011 - William Harvey Lecture
- April 2011 - Improvised bookmarks
- March 2011 - The Blitz
- February 2011 - The RSM Library
- January 2011 - Albert J. Edmunds
- December 2010 - Edward Law Memorial Fund
- November 2010 - George Francis Home
- October 2010 - Herbals
- September 2010 - Florence Nightingale's letters
- August 2010 - Florence Nightingale
