Puerperal fever : an inquiry into its nature and treatment, with an historical retrospect of some of the chief epidemics recorded under that name, and of the principal theories successively entertained respecting it. With notes of personal observations / a graduation thesis by Sophia Jex-Blake presented to the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern ; and accepted by the Faculty on the report of Dr. Peter Muller.

  • Sophia Jex-Blake
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Puerperal fever : an inquiry into its nature and treatment, with an historical retrospect of some of the chief epidemics recorded under that name, and of the principal theories successively entertained respecting it. With notes of personal observations / a graduation thesis by Sophia Jex-Blake presented to the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern ; and accepted by the Faculty on the report of Dr. Peter Muller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    bable that its condition exercised an nnhealtliy influence on the patients. As however the necessary funds were not immediately forthcoming, the business was delayed, and before it was begun the fever broke out. Its course was characterized by an initial rigor and by jiain in the abdomen, but with only moderate tenderness of that part. The pulse was rapid, from 120 to 140; there was little vomiting and no delirium. The secretion of milk and the discharge of the lochia were not subject to any constant law. At the autopsies it was found that the perito- neum was very vascular and much inflamed, and that the intes- tines and the ligaments of the uterus were in a similar condition. Fluid, frequently but not always fetid, was found in the abdo- minal cavity, with coagulated masses of purulent matter. There were intestinal adhesions, but the inflammation did not seem to extend below the surface of the viscera. Dr. Clarke tried bleeding, purges, and emetics, but with very small success, and he remarked that the system seemed to be insensible to the operation of medicines.” The prevalence of the fever was however entirely arrested when the wards were successively closed, cleaned, and painted; and the subsequent outbreak in 1788 was speedily terminated by the same means. After this thorough purification, it was noticed that the hospital became unusually healthy, and that during the latter pa?t of 1787 only three deaths occurred in the course of 960 deliveries. All the epidemics hitherto noticed arose in connection with Lying-in Hospitals, though some cases are re]ported as occurring beyond their walls, and I have not been able to find any instance of the prevalence of this fever on the continent of Europe where its oiigin was wholly disconnected with hospital practice. In 1787, however, an important ejiidemic occurred in Scotland, and spread through the town and district of Aberdeen, and also into the neighbouring rural districts, although no lying-in hospital seems to have existed in the locality at the time.^ Dr. Gordon Treatise on the Puerperal Fever oj Aberdeen. By Alexander Gordon, M.D. 1795.