PUERPERAL FEVER. See MIDWIFERY. PUFFENDORF, SAMUEL, a celebrated historian and jurist, was born at Floha, near Chemnitz, in Misnia, in Upper Saxony. His father, who was a Lutheran clergy man, educated him under his own eye; but when he was sent to Leipsic to study divinity, he acquired a taste for the study of law, which he ever afterwards prosecuted with ardour. From Leipsic he went to Jena, to study ma thematics under Weigel, and having acquired a competent knowledge of•them he devoted himself to the law of na tions and the politics of the Germanic body. In 1658, ke: was appointed governor to the Swedish ambassador at court of Denmark : and when a quarrel arose between the two nations, he was put under arrest at Copenhagen, along with the rest of the family of the Swedish ambassador. During this confinement, which lasted eight months, he wrote commentaries on Grotius's work, On the Rights of /Tar and Peace, and on the political writings of Hobbes; and having arranged his observations, he published them under the title of Elements of Universal Jurisprudence, which appeared in 1660. This work acquired much re putation to its author, and induced the Elector Palatine to establish for PuffendorfT a professorship of natural law, in the university of Heidelberg. The King of Sweden gave him the same office in the university of Lunden, in 1670. After the publication of his Treatise on the Law of Nature and Nations, Professor Beckman published a libel against him, for which he was banished the kingdom. This pu nishment exasperated the professor to such a degree, that lie sent a challenge to Puffendorif, who, however, declined to take any notice of it. Having gone from Lunde') to
Stockholm, during the prevalence of the war in Schonen, he was honoured with the dignity of baron, and was ap pointed royal historiographer and counsellor of state. Here he composed his History of Sweden, from the expedition of Gustavus Adolphus into Germany, to the Abdication of Christina ; and also his History of Charles Gustavus.
The Elector of Brandenburg, with the consent of the King of Sweden, invited our author to reside at his court as a counsellor of state, and with the view of writing the History of Frederick This great work, which was not published till after the death of its author, appear ed in 1696, entitled, The History of Frederick William II. the Great, Elector of Brandenburg. It occupies two folio volumes, and was composed from materials in the archives of the house of Brandenburg. Complete copies of it are said to be very scarce.
Baron Puffcndorf died at Berlin in 1694, of an inflam mation in his feet, occasioned by cutting his nails, and left behind him a high reputation for integrity and honour.
His other works, besides those we have mentioned, are, An Introduction to the History of the principal States at present in Europe, with a Continuation ; and an Abridg ment of his Treatise on the Law of Nature and Nations,, entitled, Duties of. a Man and a Citizen.
His brother Isaiah, who died in 16S9, was the author of a satirical work, entitled, Anecdotes Sweden, or a Secret History of Charles XI.