CLASS II. 1. 6. 16. OF SENSATION. 259 



with air, about the 36th day from the commencement of the. 

 fever, alum given in doses of about seven grains every three 

 hours, seemed of uncommon service, as the tumour of the abdo- 

 men much subsided in one day, and the patient immediately be- 

 came able to sleep two or three hours at a time; but the event 

 of the disease was fatal. 



In this situation I suppose the fever to have been kept up by 

 the absorption of a putrid material in the abdomen, on the 

 outside of the intestines; and as alum instantaneously destroys 

 the volatile alkali which occasions a part of the smell, and per- 

 haps the whole of the gas of putrid matter; which alkali pre- 

 cipitates the argillaceous earth from the vitriolic acid; I sup- 

 pose this effect would be produced by alum, though it might 

 not be produced by vitriolic acid, as the latter would unite with 

 the contents of the stomach; but the alum would not unite 

 with any thing, till it became exposed to exhalations of putrid 

 matter. See Class II. 1. 3. 1. Might not a puncture by a lan- 

 cet into the tumid abdomen, through the scar of the navel, be of 

 use, when it is much distended with air? 



The want of sleep was owing to debility, and ceased when 

 that became lessened. As some motions of the hands were the 

 consequence of her delirious ideas, these became tremulous, like 

 the hands of very old men, or drunkards, from debility whenever 

 they were exerted. 



A very interesting account of the puerperal fever, which was 

 epidemic at Aberdeen, has been lately published by Dr. Alexan- 

 der Gordon. (Robinsons, London.) In several dissections of 

 those who died of this disease, purulent matter was found in the 

 cavity of the abdomen; which he ascribes to an erysipelatous 

 inflammation of the peritonaeum, as its principal seat, and of its 

 productions, as the omentum, mesentery, and peritonaeal coat of 

 the intestines. 



He believes, that it was infectious, and that the contagion was 

 always carried by the accoucheur, or the nurse, from one lying in 

 woman to another. 



The disease began with violent unremitting pain of the abdo- 

 men on the day of delivery, or the next day, with shuddering, 

 and very quick pulse, often 140 in a minute. In this situation 

 if he saw the patient within 12 or 24 hours of her seizure, he 

 took away from 16 to 24 ounces of blood, which was always 

 sizy. He then immediately gave a cathartic, consisting of three 

 grains of calomel, and forty grains of powder of jalap. After 

 this had operated, he gave an opiate at night; and continued the 

 purging and the opiate for several days. 



He asserts, that almost all those, whom he was permitted to 



