Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1487

CHARLES DELUCENA MEIGS (1792-1869) The Philadelphia practice of midwifery. James Kay, Jun. & Brother; Pittsburgh: John I. Kay 1838 xii, 370 pp., [22] plates. 18.8 cm.

Meigs was born in Bermuda and attended the University of Georgia, after which he began the study of medicine with a local doctor. He received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1817, practiced briefly in Georgia, and returned to Philadelphia to practice and teach. Meigs was one of the early editors of The North American medical and surgical journal and was professor of obstetrics at Jefferson Medical College for twenty years. The present work was his first book and resulted from student requests to publish the substance of the lectures on obstetrics and gynecology he was then giving at the Philadelphia School of Medicine. The anatomy involved in pregnancy is thoroughly and accurately discussed as is the management of normal and abnormal parturition. Meigs held strong opinions and was greatly incensed by Holmes' (see No. 1744) views that puerperal fever was caused simply by uncleanliness. In this book he gives a most accurate description of puerperal fever and attributes its cause to the undue strain and trauma on the uterus and other pelvic structures during delivery. The only treatments Meigs advocates for the agonies of puerperal fever are bloodletting, fomentations for the abdomen, and words of support from the attending physician.

See Related Record(s): 1744

Gift of John Martin, M.D.