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registered medical practitioner, 3 by a midwife, and one had no
skilled assistance, but was aided by a lodger in the house.
61. Two cases were attended by the same nurse, who also
nursed a woman certified to have died of Influenza six days
after confinement. The case of supposed Influenza preceded
only by a few days the first case of Puerperal Fever; the second
was two months later. There seemed reason for thinking that
the supposed Influenza was really Puerperal Fever, and that the
nurse was in some way responsible for all three. She was
requested to thoroughly disinfect herself, and abstain from
nursing any cases for three months.
In one case the woman had been in contact with a case of
Small-pox. The symptoms were said to be however characteristic
of puerperal septicaemia. In another case, delivery was
by instruments, and the husband—a mortuary keeper—assisted
the doctor after disinfecting his hands. In one case a neighbour
assisted the doctor.
62. A case of Scarlet Fever was notified in a parturient
woman, commencing a few days after confinement. She was
attended by a midwife who neglected to notify, but finally
when the patient was desquamating, a doctor was called in.
The case was of average severity, and did not present the
ordinary features of Puerperal Fever.
Influenza, Beonchitis, and Pneumonia.
63. Influenza caused 60 deaths, compared with 62 and 22
in the two preceding years. The deaths from Bronchitis and
Pneumonia number 299, having been 407 and 245 in 1900 and
1901 respectively.
Table VIII. shows that the highest number of deaths from
Bronchitis and Pneumonia (13) occurred in the week following
that which had the lowest mean temperature (30.4).