Spyke
lemmy.world

Well he got a mouthwash named after him, there's always that

47
Kiernianreply
lemmy.world

I was going to say, I saw the name "Lister" and wondered if there was any connection to "Listerine".

6
lemmy.world

Funny how Semmelweis got similarly shitty treatment for the same idea. Though he wasn't so much as laughed at as much as beaten to death in a psych ward.

43
Tetsuoreply
jlai.lu

Didn't know at all about Semmelweis. Very interesting.. and sad.

12

He really deserved better. Societal momentum is tough to go against, and can easily beat one down... oftentimes literally.

16
SuperIcereply
lemmy.world

He was much earlier though and germ theory didn't exist yet, so he couldn't explain why washing your hands would work. It didn't make any sense based on the medical ideas of the time, so people saw his recommendation to wash hands as a superstition. Then he went insane as doctors continued to not wash their hands, resulting in many mothers dying from infections after birth. At least with Lister, he could explain his rationale via germ theory.

8

It's especially sad because he had empirical evidence washing his hands worked! New birth death rates dropped and when he eventually opened his own practice death rates were the lowest ever seen. Though he got bitter and angry towards the end which lead to being put in the psych ward. Honestly though, if you knew people were killing babies by negligence and were an empathetic person you'd probably end up the same way regardless of who you are.

IIRC, the hand wash was a chlorine one that was pretty rough on the skin so people didn't like to do it. Additionally to accept what he said Dr.s would have to accept they have been killing babies this whole time. I believe one Dr. Agreed with Sammelwise and killed himself because that knowledge haunted him so.

1
lemmy.fmhy.net

It's cause the guy was a dick about it... He was correct, but the way he communicated it to the medical community was rude which is why it wasn't adopted earlier.

18
LemmysMumreply
lemmy.world

So they had a cry and people died because they had their fefe's hurt when the smart man correctly identified their habits as neanderthalic? Well if that wasn't proof enough, this sure doesn't make them seem any more capable or less moronic.

14
lemmy.world

People don't generally listen to dicks, feelings or not. I'm not wastingy time listening, even if you're right, if you're the ass hole everyone hates.

5
LemmysMumreply
lemmy.world

Wilful ignorance is a detrimental trait, you'd let your ego get in the way of improving your capacity as a person? Sounds pretty pathetic.

0

No he had no reason or justification as to why it was happening. He also refuses to do any experiment to prove he was right. That's why no one took him seriously because he sounded like a crazy person.

2
lemmy.world

Wasnt the same caption just posted with Semmelweis as the person in the picture?

10

It was a different caption, but the same format and general idea (Semmelweis said that doctors should wash their hands but didn't say anything about disinfection of tools).

6

You reached the end