Oliver Wendell Holmes was the first to establish the contagious nature of puerperal fever. His essay on the subject took a strong line against the opinions then prevailing, stirring up violent opposition among the obstetricians of Philadelphia. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1936, 1, 211-43.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Because his first paper (No. 6274) had been published in a short-lived journal with very small circulation, Holmes enlarged his famous essay on the contagiousness of puerperal fever, and in this reiteration mentioned the steps already being taken by Semmelweis. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1936, 1, 245-68.

The printed wrapper of this pamphlet has a different text:

Address delivered at the dedication of the Hall of the Boston Medical Library Association, December III., MDCCLXXVIII., by Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., President. Report of C. P. Putnam, M.D. Remarks of J.S. Billings, M.D., Prof. Justin Winsor, C.H. Lyman, M.D., Pres. C. W. Lito, D.P. Smith, M.D., C. Ellis, M.D., H.I. Bowditch, M.D. Exhibition of medical portraits. Report of the librarian, James R. Chadwick, M.D. read at the sixth annual meeting, held on october IV, MDCCCLXXXI. Repot of F.C. Shattuck, M.D., on the directory for nurses.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Holmes's address was first published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 99 (1878) 745-774.

“The most important American book dealing with the history of medicine up to its day” (Garrison). Among the essays Holmes chose to include were his works on homeopathy, puerperal fever, and his address at the dedication of the Boston Medical Library. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

A classically trained Freudian psychoanalyst reviewed the psychiatric insights - advanced for his time - that Holmes expressed in his novels.