Title: Politics, Personality, and Childbed Fever
Product review: Sherwin B. Nuland looks at the strange story of Ignac Semmelweis, the man who discovered the simple means of preventing childbed fever which saved countless lives. The tragedy of his life was that he never went on to elaborate on a form of germ theory that was backed up experimentation or cogent writings (although he did eventually publish a rambling account of his theories that did more harm than good to his reputation). The author is best at setting the scene of women dying in lying-in hospitals in all of its graphic and horrific detail, and in demonstrating the ways in which Semmelweis's own intractable personality and the conservative politics of the hospital's at the time worked against him. The truly great achievment of this man is put into its proper context within its historical time period in a brilliantly succint manner. A nice addition to the Great Discoveries series.
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