ABSTRACT
Childbed fever, like every other disease, was ascribed to a range of possible causes. Accounts of childbed fever usually included many, often thirty or more, possible causes, and of course, these causes invariably included the violation of various moral and social norms. In May 1850, Ignaz Semmelweis presented a lecture in which he advanced this new concept of the disease—every case of childbed fever was caused by decaying organic matter. Today, no one would think in terms of decaying organic matter being resorbed into a living body. Anatomical characterizations of childbed fever often focused on inflammation of the uterus. This seemed reasonable since the disease seemed obviously associated with the birth process and since autopsies often disclosed morbid alterations in that organ. To some extent, Eduard Lumpe, who was probably Semmelweis's most knowledgeable and insightful critic, understood what was happening when Semmelweis advanced his etiological definition of childbed fever.
