And then there was Ignaz Semmelweis, who solved the problem of how to prevent childbed fever in Vienna at the same time Holmes was writing about it in America. Semmelweis, who was working as an assistant physician at the city’s General Hospital, noticed a discrepancy between the hospital’s two obstetric wards. One was attended by medical students, while the other was under the care of midwives and their pupils. Although each ward provided identical facilities for its patients, the one that was overseen by the medical students had a significantly higher mortality rate, by a factor of three.
