Eduard Lumpe

Eduard Lumpe Lithography by Josef Kriehuber, 1862

Eduard Lumpe (1813–1876) was an obstetrician working in Vienna General Hospital as assistant to professor Johann Klein. He is mainly known for compiling a list of causes for childbed fever in 1845, reflecting the (in retrospect: limited) insights at the time. The disease was predominantly epidemic, i.e. due to miasmatic influences. Other causal factors included: general deprivation, worry, shame, attempted abortion, fear of death, dietary disorders, exposure to cold, local miasmas and difficult delivery. Ignaz Semmelweis ridiculed Lumpe's work.

Lumpe's work reflected mainstream views, see for instance the work of Charles Delucena Meigs for a similar American account in 1854.

References

• Semmelweis, Ignaz (1861). Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever. Translated by K. Codell Carter. University of Wisconsin Press, September 15, 1983. p. 92 footnote 15. ISBN 0-299-09364-6.
• Lumpe, Eduard (1845). "Die Leistungen der neuesten Zeit in der Gynäkologie". Zeitschrift der k.k. Gesellschaft der Ärzte zu Wien. 1: 341–371.
• Meigs, Charles Delucena (1854). On the Nature, Signs, and Treatment of Childbed Fevers: In a Series of Letters Addressed to the Students of His Class. Original from Harvard University (Digitized Nov 30, 2007), Retrieved Sep 1, 2008: Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia. pp. 362 pages.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)