Excerpt from An Inaugural Dissertation on Puerperal Fever There is disease in the catalogue of human calamities upon which physicians have entertained such opposite opinions as that which is the subject of this Dissertation. Some consider it a disease of great exhaustion and putridity, and frequently contagious; while others believe it to be an inflammatory fever. From the influence of these two opinions, it must appear that its treatment varies with different persons. Those who adopt the idea of putridity believe that tonics and antiseptics are the only remedies calculated to give the patient any chance of recovery; while those whose speculations are drawn from observation less exceptionable, trust to the efficacy of depleting remedies, carried to a greater or less extent, as the necessity of the case may require. From the slightest observation of the theories of this disease, founded upon the above-mentioned opinions, it would appear that the facts upon which they are built were taken by different men at different periods. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art techlogy to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.