Page:A dissertation on the puerperal fever (1789).djvu/15

 As Dr. Denman and Dr. Manning suppose that acrid bile chiefly, foments this disease, they begin with emetics, and then have recourse to purgatives; and they assert they have found this practice beneficial. Dr. Denman uses the following formula.

The dose is 6 gr. of this powder; and if the first does not produce any sensible operation, he repeats it, in an encreased quantity, every two hours. He gives the saline draughts, which not only keep up the evacuation from the intestines, but likewise promote the salutary discharges of urine and perspiration.

When a diarrhœa continues to such an alarming degree as to threaten a fatal termination, he orders injections of chicken water, but to be conducted with great care, on account of the extreme sensibility of the parts contained in the pelvis. He then administers the following draught:

Dr. Hulme, supposing that the proximate cause of the puerperal fever is an inflammation of the omentum and intestines, says, that the predisponent cause is the pressure of the gravid uterus against these parts. But Mr. White, another eminent English practitioner, asks, if this were the case, whether the disorder, would not take place before delivery, and be mitigated immediately after that period?

Seeing the puerperal fever is a disease, more frequent and