In his book "Haphazard Reality", Hendrik Casimir writes of his
grandparents. in Friesland. This paragraph may be of interest, but
off-topic.
Gepke Meersma from Kollum, a 23-year-old housemaid, married Brugt
Kasimier in 1864:
"She might have done well in medicine too. She often stepped in when no
doctor or midwife was available and later said proudly that there had
never been a case of puerperal fever after the deliveries she carried
out. She then related how on such occasions she had first cut her nails
as short as possible, had washed her hands thoroughly with ample soap
and rinsed them in boiled water ... It remains a matter of conjecture
how the teachings of Semmelweiss had reached a working-class woman in a
remote Frisian village."
In: Haphazard reality, half a century in science. New York: Harper &
Row, 1983. Page 6.
http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/record=b1052242
Adrian Smith
Leeds University Library
0113 3435531
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