Essays on the puerperal fever and other diseases peculiar to women : Selected from the writings of British authors previous to the close of the eighteenth century / Ed. by Fleetwood Churchill.
- Fleetwood Churchill
- Date:
- 1849
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Essays on the puerperal fever and other diseases peculiar to women : Selected from the writings of British authors previous to the close of the eighteenth century / Ed. by Fleetwood Churchill. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![seventy-one were delivered within twelve hours, and eighty within twenty-four hours. Out of eighty-eight cases that occurred in the hospital, fifty- six died and thirty-two recovered. The pathological appearances discovered after death in thirty-seven of the fifty-six are thus summed up by Dr. Collins. The abdomen being ostensibly the seat of the disease, the morbid appearances were principally found here ; however, in seven he observed fluid effused into the thoracic cavities, similar in appearance to that met with in the abdomen. Effusion of fluid, although differing in character and quantity, was invariably found to have taken place. In twelve it seemed to be serum of a straw colour; in eighteen it was sero-purulent, something of the consistence of thick cream ; and in seven it appeared bloody serum, with quite a glutinous feel when rubbed between the finger and thumb. All the cases but one in which this latter description of fluid was found, oc- curred in January and February, 1829, and rapidly proved fatal. In these there was no lymph formed; whereas in the other varieties it was usually found deposited in large quantities, par- ticularly in the vicinity of the uterus, but often over the entire surface of the intestines and abdominal serous membrane. In some, when the effused fluid was scanty, the intestines were completely glued together by lymph. In almost every body examined] the peritoneum exhibited great increase of vascu- larity, nor could we discover in any instance that the inflam- mation seemed to penetrate deeper than this membrane. The Uterus in the great majority was quite natural in appearance; in some it was soft and' flabby ; and in a few, unhealthy matter was found in its sinuses. The ovaries, in numerous instance's, had suffered much in structure from the effects of inflammation, being generally much enlarged, and so softened in most as to be broken in pieces by the least pressure. In his valuable work ' On the more Important Diseases of Women/ Dr. Lee states, « Prom the 1st of January, L827, to the 1st'of October, 1832, L72 cases of well-marked puer- peral fever came under my immediate observation m private practice, and ... the British Lying-in Hospital, and other public hospitals in the western districts of London Oi i Practical Trcatiae, p](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21030170_0036.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
