DR. J. M. MUNRO KERR'S PAPER 419 



"Toxaemias of Pregnancy and their Effects upon 

 Maternal and Infantile Mortality." For the benefit 

 of those who do not belong to the medical profession 

 let me explain what is meant by the " toxaemias of 

 pregnancy." The toxaemias of pregnancy may be 

 described as a group of complications which arise 

 during pregnancy, especially a first pregnancy, and 

 which are due to disturbed metabolism and an 

 accumulation of waste material in the system of the 

 pregnant woman. 



They manifest themselves in many different ways, 

 but I propose to consider only two which are at 

 present admitted by all to be of toxsemic origin. As 

 regards the others there is still sometimes uncertainty 

 in particular cases as to how far they are genuine 

 examples of toxaemia. The two examples I take are : 

 (i) eclampsia; (2) albuminuria. But not only am 

 I going to limit myself to these two examples of 

 toxaemia, but I am going to limit myself to these 

 diseases as I have seen them in the Indoor Depart- 

 ment of the Glasgow Maternity Hospital. And I do 

 this because we have in the hospital exact records of 

 all these cases, so that I can speak of them with a 

 feeling of certainty that they were all examples of 

 toxaemia. 



Now let us consider the maternal and infantile 

 death-rates in these two complications. 



(i) Eclampsia {Puerperal Convulsions]. - - You 

 will observe from the tables that during the years 

 1901-10 inclusive there were 293 cases of eclampsia. 

 Of these 293 cases eighty-eight mothers died a 

 maternal death-rate of 30 per cent. As regards the 

 children 208 were born dead or died, an infantile 

 mortality of 70 per cent. But that is not all. Several 

 of the mothers developed chronic Bright's disease ; 

 and even amongst the children who lived several 

 died shortly after birth, and many were prema- 

 ture, poorly nourished, and started life very much 



