Thatsuchseriesofcaseshavebeenobservedinthiscountry，andinthisneighborhood，Iproceedtoshow。
InDr。Francis’s“NotestoDenman’sMidwifery，“apassageiscitedfromDr。Hosack，inwhichhereferstocertainpuerperalcaseswhichprovedfataltoseverallying-inwomen，andinsomeofwhichthediseasewassupposedtobeconveyedbytheaccoucheursthemselves。
Awriterinthe“NewYorkMedicalandPhysicalJournal“forOctober，1829，inspeakingoftheoccurrenceofpuerperalfever，confinedtooneman’spractice，remarks，“Wehaveknowncasesofthiskindoccur，thoughrarely，inNewYork。“
Imentiontheselittlehintsabouttheoccurrenceofsuchcases，partlybecausetheyarethefirstIhavemetwithinAmericanmedicalliterature，butmoreespeciallybecausetheyservetoremindusthatbehindthefearfularrayofpublishedfactsthereliesadarklistofsimilarevents，unwrittenintherecordsofscience，butlongrememberedbymanyadesolatedfireside。
CertainlynothingcanbemoreopenandexplicitthantheaccountgivenbyDr。PeirsonofSalem，ofthecasesseenbyhim。InthefirstnineteendaysofJanuary，1829，hehadfiveconsecutivecasesofpuerperalfever，everypatientheattendedbeingattacked，andthethreefirstcasesprovingfatal。InMarchofthesameyearhehadtwomoderatecases，inJune，anothercase，andinJuly，another，whichprovedfatal。“Uptothisperiod，“heremarks，“Iamnotinformedthatasinglecasehadoccurredinthepracticeofanyotherphysician。SincethatperiodIhavehadnofatalcaseinmypractice，althoughIhavehadseveraldangerouscases。Ihaveattendedinalltwentycasesofthisdisease，ofwhichfourhavebeenfatal。Iamnotawarethattherehasbeenanyothercaseinthetownofdistinctpuerperalperitonitis，althoughIamwillingtoadmitmyinformationmaybeverydefectiveonthispoint。IhavebeentoldofsomeI’mixedcases，’and’morbidaffectionsafterdelivery。’“