Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Outlines of human physiology / by Herbert Mayo. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
393/432 page 371
![m ft ^ CircumUances'which prevent Conce])tion> 371 male, the uterus enlarged to a considerable size, and was found to contain a fluid of an albuminous nature^. The following case occurred in my own practice. A married woman 33 years of age had borne several chil» dren, but after her last labour, violent inflammation fol- lowed, which produced a complete obliteration of the ca- vity of the vagina by adhesion. Conception did not take place subsequently, but she suffered periodically under a complication of head-ache, epilepsy, hemiplegia, and vo- miting of blood. Her sufferings having lasted five years, and continuing to increase, she applied to me for advice. The uterus, when examined by the rectum, was evidently not enlarged, and contained no fluid. Nevertheless, in the hope of restoring the functions of the part, I determined to try to make an artificial passage to the womb, by perfo- rating the centre of the firm flat chord, which represented the vagina. Upon exposing the os tincse, however^it ap- peared that the cavity of the uterus had likewise become obliterated in this case. To make sure, I divided obliquely the extremity of the cervix uteri, but could find no route leading into the cavity of the uterus, on pressing the end of a probe against the cut surface. It is now 3 years since the artificial vagina was made; it has shown no tendency to close; conception has not taken place, but the symptoms at each period are by no means so severe as formerly. Barrenness in married women occasionally depends upon an obstruction of the os tincm by viscid mucus, the removal of which through the introduction of a bougie has been shortly after followed by conception. Dr, Haighton divided the Fallopian tubes on each side ^ Medico-Chir. Trans, vol, x. p. 50.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2130595x_0393.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)


