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Dictionary of lesser known phrases. Ignaz Semmelweis; Semmelweis reflex The Semmelweis reflex or "Semmelweis effect" is a metaphor for the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms. The term originated from Ignaz Semmelweis, who discovered that childbed fever mortality rates could be reduced ten-fold if doctors would wash their hands (we would now say disinfect) with a chlorine solution between having contact with infected patients and non-infected patients. His hand-washing suggestions were rejected by his contemporaries (see Contemporary reaction to Ignaz Semmelweis). While there is some uncertainty regarding the origin and generally accepted use of the expression, the use of the expression Semmelweis Reflex has been documented and at least used by the author Robert Anton Wilson. [1] In his book The Game of Life, Dr. Timothy Leary provided the following polemical definition of the Semmelweis reflex: "Mob behavior found among primates and larval hominids on undeveloped planets, in which a discovery of important scientific fact is punished". The expression has found way into philosophy and religious studies as "unmitigated Human skepticism concerning causality". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semmelweis_reflex