The power to terrify: eclampsia in 19th-century American practice.

Throughout the 19th century, eclampsia was among the most dreaded complications of pregnancy. Conflicts arose over proposed etiologies and therapeutic modalities. Bloodletting and other harsh therapies reflected the prevailing humoral, neurovascular, and toxicologic theories. The role of untrained and professional nurses in the lying-in room of an eclamptic woman emerges from the literature of the time. An appreciation of the history of eclampsia provides context for the modern obstetric nurse.