A treatise on the epidemic puerperal fever as it prevailed in Edinburgh in 1821-22. To which is added an appendix containing the essay of the late Dr. Gordon on the puerperal fever of Aberdeen in 1789-90-91-92 / [William Campbell].

  • Campbell, William, 1788-1848.
Date:
1822
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the epidemic puerperal fever as it prevailed in Edinburgh in 1821-22. To which is added an appendix containing the essay of the late Dr. Gordon on the puerperal fever of Aberdeen in 1789-90-91-92 / [William Campbell]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    389/402 (page 59)
    APPENDIX, PRACTICAL REMARKS JON THE PUERPERAL FEVER. ‘Trar popular opinion and the doubts of many practitioners, with respect to the propriety of bleeding women in child-bed, are ill founded, I have proved in the preceding treatise. ? This opinion seems to have arisen from an idea, that the system, after delivery, is in a state of inanition. But that the system on this o¢casion, so far from being in a state of inanition, is, on the contrary, in a plethoric state, must appear evident to every atten- tive observer. For, during pregnancy, the. menses are retained, and there is a great quantity of blood derived to the uterus, which, if not discharged after delivery, must be redundant, and occasion plethora. Now, in order to obviate this plethora, or superabund- ance of blood, nature, in her wisdom, has thought proper to excite the lochial discharge, and to determine to the breasts by the secretion of milk. And as, in the Puerperal Fever, the latter is frequently diminished, and the former wholly suppressed, these circumstances undoubtedly indicate, @ priori, the propriety of bleeding. But it is unnecessary to reason upon a point, which is ascertained by experiment. The propriety of bleeding in the Puerperal Fever being established, does it follow that it ought to be practised in every case ?