ゼンメルワイスの使命
Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're going to explore the life and powerful words of Ignaz Semmelweis.
You might know him as the savior of mothers.
That's right. A really important figure from the 19th century.
And we're focusing on this one sentence he wrote. Simple but wow, it carries weight.
I hope you will not tire during the remainder of your honorable fight.
Honorable fight? It sounds quite dramatic for a doctor, doesn't it?
It does. So our mission today is to unpack that.
Why a fight? And importantly, what can his struggle teach you about learning English,
especially if you're trying to break away from the standard path?
Okay, so let's set the scene. We're in Vienna, the 1840s.
Semmelweis is a doctor and he's seen something truly awful.
Pupil fever, right. This infection after childbirth.
Exactly. Women were dying at alarming rates.
And he noticed something strange in his hospital.
There were two clinics.
The first clinic, staffed by doctors and medical students,
had this incredibly high death rate, sometimes up to like 18 percent.
Just devastating.18 percent? Wow.
But then the second clinic, run by midwives, had a much lower rate,
consistently around 4 percent, sometimes even less.
So same hospital, different results. He must have wondered what was going on.
Definitely. The big clue came in 1847, but it was tragic.
A friend of his, a pathologist, cut his finger during an autopsy.
And he died, showing the exact same symptoms as the mothers who died from puerperal fever.
セメルワイスの発見
So that was the connection, the link.
That was the lightbulb moment, yeah.
Semmelweis realized the doctors, who often went from autopsies straight to examining mothers,
they must be carrying something. Invisible cadaverous particles, he thought, on their hands.
Right, from the dead bodies to the living patients. Grim.
Very. So his solution, revolutionary for the time,
doctors needed to wash their hands thoroughly with chlorinated water before touching patients.
And did it work? Instantly.
The death rate in the first clinic plummeted, down to about 1 percent, just like the midwives' clinic.
Amazing. So they hailed him as a hero, right? Finally solved it.
Well, no. Actually, the opposite happened. This is where the fight really begins.
What? Why? He had proof.
He did. But the medical establishment, they just didn't buy it.
They believed in the miasma theory, that diseases were caused by bad air or smells.
Okay, that was the common idea, then.
Right. And the idea that gentlemen, respected doctors, were carrying unseen filth, death particles on their hands,
it was insulting, preposterous to them.
So it was about pride, too. Like, our hands aren't dirty.
Absolutely. It challenged their status, their self-image.
And Semmelweis, well, he became increasingly frustrated, even angry.
He started calling doctors who ignored his findings, murderers.
Oh, that probably didn't help persuade them.
Not at all. He lost his position, his contract wasn't renewed, and the story ends incredibly sadly.
セメルワイスの苦悩
He was eventually committed to an asylum.
Seriously?
Yeah. And the tragic irony.
He died there at just 47, from septicemia blood poisoning, likely from an infected wound,
the very kind of infection he fought his whole life to prevent.
That's heartbreaking. So the, quote, the honorable fight that came later.
It came from a letter he wrote in 1861, near the end,
to one of the very few colleagues who actually supported him and his ideas.
It shows just how strong his conviction was, even facing all that opposition.
Wow. What a story.
Okay, so he fought against this huge establishment that was just wrong.
How does this connect to, you know, someone learning English today?
Well, let's look at the situation for English learners, say, in Japan.
Estimates suggest the percentage of people who can really speak fluently,
express complex opinions, you know, para para, as they say,
it's probably below 2%, maybe even under 1%.
Less than 2%, that's surprisingly low.
It is. And it suggests that maybe the standard approach,
the way the vast majority learned, isn't really effective for reaching that high level of fluency.
So if you, the listener, are trying different methods,
maybe things that aren't mainstream, you're kind of like Semmelweis,
pushing against the accepted way.
In a way, yes, you're fighting your own honorable fight against the status quo
that maybe isn't producing the results you want.
Semmelweis took a specific action handwashing that went against the norm, but got results.
英語学習の目的
Right. So for English learners, the fight might be choosing active study methods,
things that maybe feel harder or less common,
instead of just passive learning that the majority might do.
It's about doing something different.
Exactly. And this connects to something deeper, maybe finding your why.
Semmelweis fought because he saw people dying. He fought for others.
Okay.
For English studies, sure, doing it for fun is great, but if you hit a wall, feel tired.
Finding a bigger reason can help.
Maybe it's using English to help your family,
get a better job to support them, connect with people.
So like finding a purpose beyond just yourself.
Yeah. It's often said people find more strength, more energy
when they're working for someone else or for a cause bigger than themselves.
That makes sense. So the daily effort, learning one word, practicing speaking.
It's not just small stuff. It can be part of that bigger fight, that larger purpose.
Precisely. So maybe think about this.
Once you master English, how could that skill actually help someone else?
How could it improve another person's life, not just your own?
That's a powerful thought. Connecting your personal goal to helping others.
It gives it a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
It really can. It turns study from a chore into, well, maybe part of your own honorable fight.
So we'll leave you with that thought.
And with Semmelweis' words reaching across the years,
戦いの意義
I hope you will not tire during the remainder of your honorable fight.
