Remarks on Puerperal Convulsions

[Read before the South Midland Branch, Mlay 21, 1857.] AMONGST the many sources of anxiety to which the onerous duties of our profession subject us, I know of none more harassing and painful to the sensitive mind than that of being called upon to exercise our art in combating a severe attack of puerperal convulsions. The suddenness of the seizure; the frequently fatal character of it; the distance it may be from the opportunity of consultation, as well as the absence of needful appliances in the country; the alarming and frightful character which the disease assumes; the terror and incapacity into which the feminine assistants at a labour are thrown; the rush of equally incompetent neighbours; with the hurry-skurry, the clatter, the crying, and the distraction of the whole tribe,are the features of a scene of confusion which, I think, can scarcely be paralleled in the history of human tribulation. Yet, in the midst of this "confusion worse confounded" must the doctor remain seemingly unnerved, buckling on his armour for the contest, and ready with his panoply of judgment and skill to meet the enemy as best he can. The odds are fearful; but glorious is the victory. In the few remarks which I am about to make on the subject of puerperal convulsions, it is not my intention to enter largely into the theory of this obscure disorder. I shall merely present facts which have come under my own observation, and draw inferences from the results of my own practice. It has been my lot to encounter many cases of puerperal convulsions, but I shall confine myself on this occasion to only