The causes that produce this terrible disorder are not very well understood; some of them probably predispose to it before delivery, or even before pregnancy, while others are connected with labor and its consequences. Among the former may be mentioned, improper diet, an inactive life, anxiety of mind, bad air, a damp situation, a full habit, or great weakness, the frequent use of stimulants, and _certain excesses_! The principal causes operating immediately are difficult labors, violent treatment, the use of instruments, tearing away the placenta too soon, retention of the lochia, cold, rising from the bed too soon, depression or excitement of the mind, over exertion in talking to and seeing company, and neglect of cleanliness. The most frequent cause probably is cold or damp, which checks the lochia and the perspiration, and leads directly to inflammation. It is on this account that the complaint is nearly always worse in winter than in summer, and prevails most in low damp situations, and in badly ventilated apartments, or in those insufficiently warmed. In most warm countries, and in those of an equable temperature, where the females remain much in the open air, and use regular exercise, puerperal fever appears to be but little known. The nature of this complaint appears to be a severe and sudden inflammation, commencing either in the womb or some of the neighboring parts, which, if not arrested, rapidly extends to all the organs of the pelvis and abdomen, and hastens to a fatal termination with fearful speed. The precise seat, and place of commencement, of the inflammation, varies in different cases, but this makes little difference either in the symptoms, consequences, or treatment of the disease, and it is of but little use to give a separate name to all these various forms. Uterine Phlebitis, Metro Peritonitis, Puerperal Metritis, and Puerperal Peritonitis, are all essentially the same complaint, and identical with what is called Puerperal, or Childbed fever. The disease generally appears from the second to the fifth day after delivery, but may be delayed as late as the fifteenth or twentieth day, or commences as early as two or three hours after; and has even been known to show itself before labor came on.