ever; the next lying-in patient she nursed died of the same disease; a
third nursed by her met with the same fate, till the neighborhood,
getting afraid of her, ceased to employ her."

In the winter of the year 1824, "Several instances occurred of its
prevalence among the patients of particular practitioners, whilst others
who were equally busy met with few or none. One instance of this kind
was very remarkable. A general practitioner, in large midwifery
practice, lost so many patients from puerperal fever, that he determined
to deliver no more for some time, but that his partner should attend in
his place. This plan was pursued for one month, during which not a case
of the disease occurred in their practice. The elder practitioner, being
then sufficiently recovered, returned to his practice, but the first
patient he attended was attacked by the disease and died. A physician,
who met him in consultation soon afterwards, about a case of a different
kind, and who knew nothing of his misfortune, asked him whether puerperal
fever was at all prevalent in his neighborhood, on which he burst into
tears, and related the above circumstances.

"Among the cases which I saw this season in consultation, four occurred
in one month in the practice of one medical man, and all of them
terminated fatally." [Lond. Med. Gaz. May 2, 1835.]

Dr. Ramsbotham asserted, in a Lecture at the London Hospital, that he had
known the disease spread through a particular district, or be confined to
the practice of a particular person, almost every patient being attacked
with it, while others had not a single case. It seemed capable, he
thought, of conveyance, not only by common modes; but through the dress
of the attendants upon the patient.

In a letter to be found in the "London Medical Gazette" for January,
1840, Mr. Roberton of Manchester makes the statement which I here give in
a somewhat condensed form.

A midwife delivered a woman on the 4th of December, 1830, who died soon
after with the symptoms of puerperal fever. In one month from this date
the same midwife delivered thirty women, residing in different parts of
an extensive suburb, of which number sixteen caught the disease and all
died. These were the only cases which had occurred for a considerable
time in Manchester. The other midwives connected with the same
charitable institution as the woman already mentioned are twenty-five in
number, and deliver, on an average, ninety women a week