[139] [A figure of this instrument is given in Dewees’ Midwifery, Pl. XVIII. and the method of using it fully described.—Ed.]
[140] In the edition which has been translated into English, A. D. 1612, it is the twelfth chapter.
[141] We subjoin the passages to which we have referred in the three above mentioned cases:—
Case 115. “I cannot implicitly accede to the opinion of roost writers in midwifery, which is, that the placenta always adheres to the fundus uteri; for in this, as well as many former instances, I have good reason to believe that it sometimes adheres to or near the os internum, and that the opening of it occasions a separation, and consequently a flooding.”
Case 116. “The first thing I met with was the placenta, which I found closely adhering round the os internum of the uterus, which, among other things, is a proof that the placenta is not always fixed to the bottom of the uterus, according to the opinion of some writers in midwifery. Its adhering to the os internum was, in my opinion, the occasion of the flooding; for as the os internum was gradually dilated, the placenta at the same time was separated, from whence proceeded the effusion of blood.”
Case 224. “It is generally believed that the ovum, after its impregnation and separation from the ovarium, and its passing through the tuba Fallopiana, always adheres, and is fixed, after some time, to the fundus uteri; in this case the placenta adhered, and was fixed close to and round about the cervix uteri, as I have found it in many other cases, so that upon a dilatation of the os uteri a separation has always followed, and hence a flooding naturally ensues.”
[142] The second edition of Rœderer’s admirable Elementa Artis Obstetriciæ, which was published by his distinguished successor, Wrisberg, in 1766, three years after his death, is that which is chiefly known, although it never had an extensive circulation in this country. The means of communication with the Continent at that time were very different to what they are at present; and although none can regret more than ourselves that Rœderer’s work should have passed unnoticed in Dr. Rigby’s Essay on Uterine Hæmorrhage, still we feel assured that the liberal portion of the medical world, whether in this or other countries, will not attribute this omission to a disingenuous suppression of his name, but rather to the more probable circumstances that, residing in a provincial town, and actively engaged in the arduous duties of an extensive country practice, Dr. Rigby had not enjoyed an opportunity of consulting the work; at any rate, we have good reasons to know that he never possessed it.
[143] Not 1776, as stated by Dr. R. Lee.
[144] Dr. Merriman has also recorded three cases of this kind, one of which occurred to himself; in this case “the placenta was expelled many hours before the child was born;” the mother died from puerperal fever.
[145] [A very interesting account of puerperal peritonitis, as it prevailed in the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1833, is given by Professor H. L. Hodge, in the American Journal Med. Sc., for August, 1833, p. 325, et seq.—Ed.]