Dr. Rutter, the practitioner referred to, "observed that, after
the occurrence of a number of cases of the disease in his
practice, he had left the city and remained absent for a week,
but, on returning, no article of clothing he then wore having
been used by him before, one of the very first cases of
parturition he attended was followed by an attack of the fever
and terminated fatally; he cannot readily, therefore, believe in
the transmission of the disease from female to female in the
person or clothes of the physician."
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 "Medical Examiner," [Footnote:
For January 21, 1843.] 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 profession was greater
than that of any other gentleman, which was probably the cause of
his seeing a greater number 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, [Footnote: Medical Examiner for December 10, 1842.]
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 mentioned Dr.
Warrington stated that a few days after assisting 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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