Charles Delucena Meigs (February 19, 1792 – June 22, 1869) was an American

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgic ...

of the nineteenth century who is remembered for his opposition to obstetrical anesthesia and to advocating the idea that

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

s' hands could not transmit disease to their patients.

Biography

Meigs was born February 19, 1792, in St. George, Bermuda, the son of

Josiah Meigs Josiah Meigs (August 21, 1757 – September 4, 1822) was an American academic, journalist and government official. He was the first acting president of the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, where he implemented the university's first physic ...

and Clara Benjamin Meigs. He died June 22, 1869, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He graduated in medicine at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1817. In 1818 he was awarded an honorary degree of M.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. Meigs specialized in obstetrics and was for a long time the acknowledged leader in this branch of medicine. In 1826, Meigs was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. In 1841, he became professor of obstetrics and diseases of women in the

Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the unive ...

, until his retirement in 1861.Dr. Charles Delucena Meigs (#219)
. Meigs.org. Retrieved on 2012-02-29. Meigs was a lifelong opponent of obstetric anesthesia. In 1856, he warned against the morally "doubtful nature of any process that the physicians set up to contravene the operations of those natural and physiological forces that the Divinity has ordained us to enjoy or to suffer". His work "On The Nature, Signs, and Treatment of Childbed Fevers" discussed in detail the proposition that women were at risk of disease in dirty environments. He looked at both sides of the idea that doctors could convey childbed fever (a disease) on their hands on the grounds and quoted Dr. D. Rutter asking, "Did he carry it on his hands? But a gentleman's hands are clean". He weighs "contagion" and "non-contagion" as causes. On the contagion side he is in great favor of "purifying the whole hospital". He cites Dr. Robert Collin's in 1829 as having used chorine gas in a ward, painting the floor and woodwork with chloride of lime mixed with water, and finishing with whitewashing the ward and scouring the blankets and heating them to 130 degrees. His feelings on the matter of contagion were distilled into "Is contagion a truth? Then, for heaven's sweet sake, I implore you not to lay your impoisoned hands upon her who is committed to your science and skill and charitable goodness, only for her safety and comfort, and not that you should, after collecting fees, soon return her to her friends a putrid corpse." He was active as a translator from French. His translation of Gobineau's ''Typhaines Abbey'' was published in 1869. Until his death he corresponded with the book's author. He is interred at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

, Philadelphia, in Section I, Plot 71 A son, Montgomery C. Meigs (1816–1892), achieved distinction as Quartermaster General of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Works

* 362 pages. * 116 pages. * 730 pages. * 276 pages.

Notes

External links

* * * * P M Dunn
Professor Charles D Meigs (1792–1869) of Philadelphia and persistent fetal circulation.
''Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed.'' 1994; 70; F155-F156
Meigs Family papers
at Hagley Museum and Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Meigs, Charles Delucena 1792 births 1869 deaths Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni American obstetricians