[On the
Management of Lying-in Women, p. 120.]
Dr. Armstrong has given a number of instances in his Essay on Puerperal
Fever, of the prevalence of the disease among the patients of a single
practitioner. At Sunderland, "in all, forty-three cases occurred from
the 1st of January to the 1st of October, when the disease ceased; and of
this number forty were witnessed by Mr. Gregson and his assistant, Mr.
Gregory, the remainder having been separately seen by three accoucheurs."
There is appended to the London edition of this Essay, a letter from Mr.
Gregson, in which that gentleman says, in reference to the great number
of cases occurring in his practice, "The cause of this I cannot pretend
fully to explain, but I should be wanting in common liberality if I were
to make any hesitation in asserting, that the disease which appeared in
my practice was highly contagious, and communicable from one puerperal
woman to another." "It is customary among the lower and middle ranks of
people to make frequent personal visits to puerperal women resident in
the same neighborhood, and I have ample evidence for affirming that the
infection of the disease was often carried about in that manner; and,
however painful to my feelings, I must in candor declare, that it is very
probable the contagion was conveyed, in some instances, by myself, though
I took every possible care to prevent such a thing from happening, the
moment that I ascertained that the distemper was infectious.
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