Milk fever : a treatise to show the relation which exists between the rise in temperature on the third to fifth day, and the beginning of the milk secretion : graduation thesis presented to the Harvard Medical School / by Samuel Howe.

  • Howe, Samuel.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Milk fever : a treatise to show the relation which exists between the rise in temperature on the third to fifth day, and the beginning of the milk secretion : graduation thesis presented to the Harvard Medical School / by Samuel Howe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    is perfect, and the temperature keeps about normal; but if from any cause the milk is secreted too fast, and the breast be- comes full and hard, it immediately rises. Taking these views, I am unable to say whether he thinks the fever is due to too large secretion, or the accumulation of milk in the gland. 1 I am inclined myself to think it is due to both causes, and that either one will give rise to an increase in temperature and pulse. . The idea that the milk is formed in the blood, and that the retention of it gave rise to fever, has been overthrown by the experiments of Wills in 1850, for he shows that the glands of the breast alone form milk. If this rise is caused by the wounds and laceration of the genitals, Schramm thinks that it is strange that when the breasts are inflamed and the milk secreted in too great quanti- ties, the temperature should rise, and when the condition is re- lieved, it should immediately fall. Schramm concludes by speaking of the so-called febricula theory, which explains this fever as due to certain attacks of a slight contagious fever, although, he says, the febriculm do occur in lying-in hospitals, for he has noticed when the wards were crowded, the temperature is often higher. He thinks it is false to classify the milk fever with these. He considers under the term febricnlse, indiscretions in diet and restless- ness of the child, and leaves out those which occur in connec- tion with wounds of the genitals which are to be considered under the name of wound fever, and also those due to conges- tion of the breast known as milk fever. He wishes it to be dis- tinctly understood when he speaks of milk fever, that he does not mean every febrile action which occurs during the lying-in state, but considers this affection in its pure form rare, two to four cases in a hundred, but that often we have it in connec- tion with wound fever and febricnlse, etc. I have given a rough abstract of the three distinguished authors on this subject: Winckel, on the one hand, strongly objected not only to the term, but considered that the condi- tion of the breasts and secretion of the milk have very little to do with any febrile movement; and on the other, Schroeder and Schramm thought the secretion of the milk is almost al-