The most fatal year was 1867, in which year nine out of the twenty-six deaths took place. In the month of January a pregnant woman, who was under treatment for erysipelas in the hospital, was delivered in a general medical ward, No. 4, in the first-built wing of the hospital. A midwife was told off to attend her, who was not suffered to be near the midwifery wards for a considerable time. The erysipelas case died of puerperal fever; and this death was followed by a succession of puerperal deaths in the lying-in wards until November, when the wards were as soon as possible closed. An analysis of the causes of death showed that, with the exception of one death from hæmorrhage, not a single death had taken place from accidents incidental to childbearing during the whole six years. There were three deaths due to diseases not necessarily concomitants of this condition; while of the others, twenty-three in number, no fewer than seventeen were due to puerperal fever, three to puerperal peritonitis, two to pyæmia, and one to metritis. The following table gives the actual fates and dates:— _Midwifery Statistics, King’s College Hospital._ ┌─────┬──────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────┐ │Year │ Total │ Fatal Cases │ Deaths to │ │ │Deliveries│ │ Labours │ ├─────┼──────────┼─────┬──────────────┬────────────────┬───────┼───────────┤ │ │ │Date │ Nature of │ │Date of│ │ │ „ │ „ │ of │ Labour │ Cause of Death │ Death │ „ │ │ │ │Birth│ │ │ │ │ ├─────┼──────────┼─────┼──────────────┼────────────────┼───────┼───────────┤ │ 1862│ 97│Nov. │Natural │Puerperal │Nov. 25│1 in 32·3 │ │ │ │ 6 │ │ peritonitis │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │Phthisis and │ │ │ │ │ │„ 30│Twins │ puerperal │Dec. 27│ „ │ │ │ │ │ │ fever │ │ │ │ │ │Dec. │Natural │Puerperal │Dec. 20│ „ │ │ │ │ 10 │ │ peritonitis │ │ │ ├─────┼──────────┼─────┼──────────────┼────────────────┼───────┼───────────┤ │ 1863│ 105│Jan. │Natural. Child│Puerperal fever │Jan. 16│1 in 52·5 │ │ │ │ 10 │ still-born │ │ │ │ │ │ │April│Natural │Puerperal fever │May 20 │ „ │ │ │ │ 29 │ │ │ │ │ ├─────┼──────────┼─────┼──────────────┼────────────────┼───────┼───────────┤ │ 1864│ 141│Feb. │Natural │Puerperal fever │Feb. 25│1 in 47 │ │ │ │ 16 │ │ │ │ │