Cases in midwifery / by the late John Green Crosse ; arranged (with an introduction and remarks), by Edward Copeman.

  • John Green Crosse
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases in midwifery / by the late John Green Crosse ; arranged (with an introduction and remarks), by Edward Copeman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    shewn to me on my arrival. Having acted thus far under the im- pression that the case was a placental pi'esentation, the same be- lief was entertained by both gentlemen present ; and whatever was the position of the child (at one time the breech, at another the occiput, was thought to be felt), they believed turning would be the proceeding ; so Mr. H having removed his coat and bared his arm, introduced it through the mass in the vagina; and beheving he must reach the uterus, could not explain why he did not distinctly feel the child, but thought at one time he got the foot of the child ; he however could not retain it ; he got hold of something else, and no doubt used some force with the hand ; but throughout the whole of this history I am unable to give a state- ment of what force was employed ; it must be inferred from the subsequent part of the case. On withdrawing his hand, he brought away a firm whitish substance, which appeared like a bean. Mr. H s likened it to a bile-stone—it was soft enough to be powdered readily. Mr. H s next introduced his hand, but could not detect a foetus ; he however felt the S]3ine—said he could feel a bag of such stones as the one brought away by his more active and more experienced companion ; neither of them,. however, suspected that the hand had been introduced anywhere- but into the uterus. Numerous portions of the whitish soft mass, resembling by candle-light well washed placenta, were brought away. The woman died half an hour after these attempts, though there had not been much loss of blood ; a gradual loss, but no rapid flooding. Owing to the inexplicable state of the case, Mr. had been sent for, I believe before the woman died ; but she was dead before he arrived ; probably the patient died between 10 and 11 o'clock. It was to meet these three gentlemen, and for the rea- son stated in the beginning, that I was summoned, and I arrived at half-past three in the morning, three or four hours after the patient had expired. The corpse was lying on the bed, on her left side, doubled up in the usual position for examining during labour, with her clothes on ; and the quantity of coagulated blood on the bed, reaching down to the feet, shewed there had been no inconsiderable hte- morrhage. I introduced my hand into the vagina, felt lacerated parts, but could not distinguish fcetus or os uteri. My coat being H 2