Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1744

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (1809-1894) The contagiousness of puerperal fever. (In New England quarterly Journal of medicine and surgery. Vol. 1 (1842-1843), pp. 503-530.) 21.5 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1742

This brief, lucid, and somewhat acerbic paper must be regarded as one of the most important contributions of nineteenth-century American medicine. In it, Holmes demonstrates conclusively the contagious nature of childbed fever. He showed that the dreaded disease, carried by the unwashed hands of the physician from bed to bed, could be avoided by simply washing the hands before and after pelvic examination and after postmortem examination. Like Semmelweis, who confirmed Holmes' conclusions (see No. 1851), Holmes suffered the abuse and ridicule of his fellow physicians, who only reluctantly and after many years conceded the truth. The severity and widespread occurrence of the disease led Holmes to state in the strongest terms the obligation of the physician: "Whatever indulgence may be granted to those who have heretofore been the ignorant cause of so much misery, the time has come when the existence of a private pestilence in the sphere of a single physician should be looked upon not as a misfortune but a crime" (p. 530). The New England quarterly journal of medicine and surgery was published for only one year, and complete copies, such as this one, are uncommon.

See Related Record(s): 1851

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 6274; Osler 2989; Waller 4852

Gift of John Martin, M.D.