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Charles Delucena Meigs

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Charles Delucena Meigs (February 19, 1792 – June 22, 1869) was an American obstetrician who worked as chair of obstetrics and diseases of women at Jefferson Medical College from 1841 to 1861. He worked as editor of The North American Medical and Surgical Journal and published multiple papers and books on various topics in obstetrics including thrombosis as a cause of sudden death in women during childbirth, diseases of the cervix and postpartum infections. He was a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and served as president from 1845 to 1855.

Charles Delucena Meigs
BornFebruary 19, 1792
St. George, Bermuda
DiedJune 22, 1869(1869-06-22) (aged 77)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Known forObstetrics
Scientific career
InstitutionsJefferson Medical College

He was opposed to two of the major obstetrical advances of the 19th century. He advocated against the usage of anesthesia during childbirth due to concerns that it would interfere with uterine contractions. He also argued against the ability of postpartum infections to be spread by the hands of physicians.

Early life and education

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Meigs was born February 19, 1792, in St. George, Bermuda, the fifth of ten children of Josiah Meigs and Clara Benjamin Meigs. In 1794, he relocated with his family to New Haven, Connecticut, where his father was a professor at Yale University.[1] In 1801, he relocated with his family to Athens, Georgia, and attended a grammar school. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in 1809 and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1817. In 1818 he was awarded an honorary degree of M.D. from Princeton University.[2]

Career

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Meigs returned to Georgia for a brief time to practice medicine, however his wife insisted they return to Philadelphia due to her disgust at the harsh treatment of enslaved people in that state.[3]

In 1826, he worked as an editor for The North American Medical and Surgical Journal and in 1838, published his own book, Philadelphia Practice of Midwifery.[2]

Meigs specialized in obstetrics and focused his research on the study of thrombosis as a cause of sudden death in women during childbirth.[2] He also published papers on diseases of the cervix and child-bed fever.[4] He was a fellow in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and served as president from 1845 to 1855.[2]

He held strong religious convictions and was described as having a "lofty belief that he had become a ministering spirit endowed with almost apostolic powers for those who placed themselves under his care".[4]

He was active as a translator from French. He translated and published Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau's Elementary Treatise on Midwifery.[2] His translation of Gobineau's Typhaines Abbey was published in 1869.[5] He studied German and became proficient enough to read the papers of important German obstetricians.[2]

In 1826, Meigs was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[6]

In 1832, Meigs received a silver pitcher from the Philadelphia City Council in recognition for his role in treating the cholera epidemic that hit the city.[7]

Meigs applied for the chair of midwifery at the University of Pennsylvania after the retirement of William Potts Dewees, but lost out to another candidate.[8] In 1841, he became chair of obstetrics and diseases of women [9] at Jefferson Medical College,[10] until his retirement in 1861.[1] He was incorrect in his views on two of the major advances in obstetrics in the 19th century, the usage of anesthesia and sanitary practices to prevent the transmission of postpartum infections.[4]

Opposition to anesthesia

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He was an opposed to the usage of anesthesia on patients, especially in obstetrics. It was a widely held belief at the time that anesthesia would interfere with uterine contractions during birth. He believed that labor pains were "a most desireable, salutory and conservative manifestation of the life force".[11] 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".[11]

Views on sanitary practices

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He vehemently disagreed with Oliver Wendell-Holmes Sr. that puerperal fever was contagious[4] and could be spread by physicians from patient to patient. He wrote in his publication "On The Nature, Signs, and Treatment of Childbed Fevers" and stated, "Doctors are gentlemen and gentlemen's hands are clean".[12]

These beliefs resulted in his treatment of multiple women throughout the day without washing equipment or his hands between patients. He was known to wear the same medical frock all day no matter how soiled it became.[13]

Personal life

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He was married to Mary Montogomery[4] and together they had 10 children.[14] One of their sons, Montgomery C. Meigs,[15] achieved distinction as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during the American Civil War.[16]

 
Charles Delucena Meigs' grave in Laurel Hill Cemetery

He died June 22, 1869, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, in Section I, Plot 71[17]

Published works

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Charles Delucena Meigs' "Obstetrics. The Science and the Art", 3rd ed 1856

Media Depiction

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  • In the TED-Ed animated web video series, "The Demon of Reason," the Demon confronts Dr. Meigs back in time about how his conclusion that inflammation caused childbed fever is based on the False Cause Fallacy in the confused assumption about how correlation equals causation, without considering other facts or logical possibilities in that medical situation.[18]

References

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Citations

  1. ^ a b Dr. Charles Delucena Meigs (#219) Archived May 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Meigs.org. Retrieved on 2012-02-29.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L. (eds.). "Meigs, Charles Delucena" . American Medical Biographies . Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.
  3. ^ Aptowicz 2014, p. 102.
  4. ^ a b c d e Dunn, Peter M (1 March 1994). "Professor Charles D Meigs (1792-1869) of Philadelphia and persistent fetal circulation" (PDF). Archives of Disease in Childhood. 70 (2): F155–F156. doi:10.1136/fn.70.2.f155. PMC 1061019. PMID 8154909. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  5. ^ Count Arthur de Gobineau (1869). Typhaines abbey: a tale of the twelfth century. Translated by Charles D. Meigs. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger.
  6. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  7. ^ Aptowicz 2014, p. 104.
  8. ^ Bell, John (1873). "Obituary Notice of Charles D. Meigs, M. D." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 13 (90): 170–179. JSTOR 981619. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Meigs, Return Jonathan" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. IV. 1900. pp. 288–290, see p 289.
  10. ^ "OBSTETRICS: THE SCIENCE AND THE ART, BY CHARLES D. MEIGS, M.D." www.jdc.jefferson.edu. Jefferson Libraries. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Charles Delucena Meigs (1792-1869)". www.general-anaesthesia.com. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  12. ^ Nevins, Michael (2011). Meanderings in New Jersey's Medical History. Bloomington: iUniverse, Inc. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-4620-5467-1. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  13. ^ Aptowicz 2014, p. 103.
  14. ^ Aptowicz 2014, p. 70.
  15. ^ Butler, S.W.; Brinton, D.G. (December 1869). The Medical and Surgical Reporter: A Weekly Journal. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wylie & Griest. p. 24. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  16. ^ Tikkanen, Amy. "Montgomery C. Meigs". www.britannica.com. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  17. ^ "Charles D. Meigs". www.remembermyjourney.com. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  18. ^ Cox, Elizabeth. "Can you outsmart the fallacy that fooled a generation of doctors? - Elizabeth Cox". YouTube. TED-Ed.

Sources

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  Media related to Charles Delucena Meigs at Wikimedia Commons

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