ABSTRACT
In 1839 Karl Wilhelm Mayrhofer was appointed physician to the Kremsmunster abbey. Following his father's example, Carl Mayrhofer went on to study medicine at the University of Vienna. In 1862 he was appointed second assistant to Carl Braun, who had replaced Johannes Klein as professor of obstetrics at the university. Thus, Mayrhofer began working in the first section of the Viennese maternity clinic—in the same facility where, fifteen years earlier, Semmelweis had instituted chlorine washings. Mayrhofer tried to decide whether vibrions actually caused childbed fever or whether the diseased patient simply provided a suitable medium in which they could flourish. His early work was based directly on Braun's concept of childbed fever, and his initial results were entirely compatible with Braun's views. Toward the end of 1864 Mayrhofer delivered a second lecture on childbed fever. In this lecture, Mayrhofer rejected Braun's concept of childbed fever and adopted a position that was much closer to Ignaz Semmelweis's view.
