Semmelweis’s last publications on antisepsis in obstetrics. Although the information and conclusions that Semelweis drew in his Die Aetiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers (1861) were of the first importance, its publication failed to bring about a widespread acceptance of Semmelweis’s views and methods; instead, the connection he had made between cadaverous infection and puerperal fever was rejected by a large proportion of the medical establishment. Die Aetiologie was subject to several unfavorable reviews, to which Semmelweis responded with a series of “Open Letters”, published in pamphlet form in 1861 and 1862, in which he bitterly attacked his critics. These he wrote to “Joseph Späth, Friedrich Wilhelm Scanzoni von Lichtenfels, and [Franz???] Siebold in 1861 full of desperation and fury for reluctance to accept his doctrine. He called upon Siebold to arrange a meeting of German obstetricians somewhere in Germany to provide a forum for discussions on puerperal fever where he would stay “until all have been converted to his theory.” (Hauzman, Erik E [2006]. “Semmelweis and his German contemporaries”. 40th International Congress on the History of Medicine, ISHM 2006. The abusive language Semmelweis used in these letters was an indicator of his increasing mental instability. He eventually suffered a mental breakdown in 1865 and died the same year—ironically, due to septicemia from an infected finger.