Observations on the disease usually termed puerperal fever : with cases / by William Campbell.

  • Campbell, William, 1788-1848.
Date:
[1822]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the disease usually termed puerperal fever : with cases / by William Campbell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    l(i ever, that almost every one who has written upon this subject since the time of M. Doulcet, condemned the practice; which further shows, that there is but little foundation for this theory. The last theory I am to notice, is that of puerperal fever being “ merely typhus, complicated with a more or less ex- tensive inflammation of the peritoneum.” It has been ob- served by the best authors on this subject, that the disease is very insidious in its attacks; which observation I have had an opportunity of corroborating in many of the cases I have met with. In some of them, the abdominal pain was so inconsiderable, that the patients would not have com- plained of it, had they not been questioned particularly on this point; and then it was only described as a general sore- ness of the abdomen, and not as an acute pain. In most cases, however, these feelings were rendered sufficiently acute when pressure was made on the abdomen. All of them, except one or two, were preceded bv so distinct a ri- gor that patients never failed to mention it. It was this circumstance, with the state of the pulse and appearance of the countenance, that excited my alarm in the generality of the cases; and my suspicions were further confirmed, by inquiring about the state of the abdomen. So insidious, in- deed, is the primary attack of the disease in some cases, that there are not wanting instances of its having been suf- fered to proceed to an alarming height, before the attend- ants were even aware of the existence ot indisposition, and before it was thought necessary to call in medical aid,—the patient’s complaints being confounded with ephemera, or after-pains *. The practitioner then called in might, with- • One of the cases which I witnessed proved fatal from this very cir- cumstance. The patient alluded to .aborted between the second and third month ; being then pregnant for the seventh time. She felt herself so well