In December, 1830, a midwife, who had attended two fatal cases of
puerperal fever at the British Lying-in Hospital, examined a patient who
had just been admitted, to ascertain if labor had commenced. This patient
remained two days in the expectation that labor would come on, when she
returned home and was then suddenly taken in labor and delivered before
she could set out for the hospital. She went on favorably for two days,
and was then taken with puerperal fever and died in thirty-six hours.
"A young practitioner, contrary to advice, examined the body of a patient
who had died from puerperal fever; there was no epidemic at the time; the
case appeared to be purely sporadic. He delivered three other women
shortly afterwards; they all died with puerperal fever, the symptoms of
which broke out very soon after labor. The patients of his colleague did
well, except one, where he assisted to remove some coagula from the
uterus; she was attacked in the same manner as those whom he had
attended, and died also." The writer in the "British and Foreign Medical
Review," from whom I quote this statement,--and who is no other than Dr.
Rigby, adds, "We trust that this fact alone will forever silence such
doubts, and stamp the well-merited epithet of 'criminal,' as above
quoted, upon such attempts." [Brit. and For. Medical Review for Jan.
1842, p. 112.]
From the cases given by Mr.
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