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.

  • Jex-Blake, Sophia, 1840-1912.
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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    and the patient experienced some relief. The opiates were continued. Thursday, Nov. 8th.—The treatment was continued. At 4 p.m. an enema, was given- containing 01: Eicini; and calomel gr. X was administered at 5 p.m. A mixture containing Sjjt. Eth. Nitr: and Mist. Camph: was also given hourly. At 8 p.m. Pulv. Ipec. CO. gr. x. At 9 p.m. Tinct. Eerri. Perchloridi was ordered in gtt. iij doses hourly. Friday, Nov. 9th..—Died at 8, a.m; I have thought it right to give as fully as possible all the facts and incidents, whether peculiar to the patient or relating to the Hospital, which, could possibly be supposed to influence the result in this case, as this was undoubtedly the starting point of the subsequent epidemic. It wiU be seen thah. there were an unusual number of concurrent circumstances which might or might not have a causal relation to the event, and each would be differently estimated by different authoiities.. The prevalence of slight cases of gangrene before the outbreak of an epidemic has been so often remarked in other instances that one cannot deny its possible importance. The sectio cadaveris of a partly decomposed foetus, and the subsequent examination, of a. parturient patient, must not be omitted from the record ; though I state the facts with considerable reluctance, as the hospital rule in such matters was most rigid, and was in'this instance broken by an oversight which never I think occurred, either previously or subsequently, during my three years’ stay in the Hospital. The wretched state of the patient herself, both as regards mental anxiety and physical suffering, prior to ad- mission, also presented precisely the conditions, most favourable for serious illness and for a fatal issue, and thus formed a third element in the chain of causation of which it is difiicult exactly to estimate the force. It is at least conceivable that no one of the factors in question would alone have produced the unhappy result, but it is certainly no marvel that in combination^ their influence was disastrous.