Joseph Hermann Schmidt (14 June 1804 – 15 May 1852) was professor of obstetrics in Berlin, and official of the Prussian cultural ministry.

[3] Schmidt approved of obstetrical students having ready access to morgues in which they could spend time while waiting for the labor process.

For this he had a controversy with Ignaz Semmelweis who identified contamination as the principal source of high mortality rates from puerperal fever.

In an editorial in 1850 he wrote: "A normal birth is often a slow process and it would be unreasonable to expect every young man .. to remain in the delivery room...

[Students] are thus able to go into surgical or medical wards ... or they can go into the morgue from where they can be quickly called if significant change occurs.