PUERPERAL FEVER 247 



The meeting at which these remarks were made was held 

 on the 3d of May, 1842. In a letter dated December 20, 

 1842, addressed to Dr. Meigs, and to be found in the " Medi- 

 cal Examiner," u he speaks of " those horrible cases of 

 puerperal fever, some of which you did me the favor to 

 see with me during the past summer," and talks of his 

 experience in the disease, "now numbering nearly seventy 

 cases, all of which have occurred within less than a twelve- 

 month past." 



And Dr. Meigs asserts, on the same page, " Indeed, I 

 believe that his practice in that department of the pro- 

 fession was greater than that of any other gentleman, 

 which was probably the cause of his seeing a greater num- 

 ber of the cases." This from a professor of midwifery, 

 who some time ago assured a gentleman whom he met in 

 consultation that the night on which they met was the 

 eighteenth in succession that he himself had been summoned 

 from his repose,* seems hardly satisfactory. 



I must call the attention of the inquirer most particularly 

 to the Quarterly Report above referred to, and the letters 

 of Dr. Meigs and Dr. Rutter, to be found in the " Medical 

 Examiner." Whatever impression they may produce upon 

 his mind, I trust they will at least convince him that there 

 is some reason for looking into this apparently uninviting 

 subject. 



At a meeting of the College of Physicians just men- 

 tioned Dr. Warrington stated that a few days after as- 

 sisting at an autopsy of puerperal peritonitis, in which he 

 laded out the contents of the abdominal cavity with his 

 hands, he was called upon to deliver three women in 

 rapid succession. All of these women were attacked with 

 different forms of what is commonly called puerperal fever. 

 Soon after these he saw two other patients, both on the 

 same day, with the same disease. Of these five patients, 

 two died. 



At the same meeting Dr. West mentioned a fact related 

 to him by Dr. Samuel Jackson, of Northumberland. Seven 

 females, delivered by Dr. Jackson in rapid succession, while 

 practising in Northumberland County, were all attacked 



"For January at, 1843. "Medical Examiner for December 10, 1842. 



