"Ignaz Semmelweis didn't buy that load of crap, and instead embarked upon a large scale study, discovering that doctors often went to assist births immediately after doing autopsies. Apparently the least stupid scientist in all of Vienna, he concluded that the problem probably had something to do with the practice of handling a rotting corpse and a freshly born baby one after the other. His recommendation was simply that doctors should take 30 seconds to wash their hands somewhere between the morgue and the maternity ward, a habit which was shown to cut mortality down to a comparatively astonishing one percent. Unfortunately, the scientific community violently rejected the idea of hand washing, because it offended their status as gentlemen. One fellow by the name of Charles Meigs went as far as declaring that doctors should never have to wash their hands because doctors are gentlemen and "gentlemen's hands are always clean."" - rønin