Volume 1

A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / by W.S. Playfair.

  • William Smoult Playfair
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / by W.S. Playfair. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    236/432 (page 212)
    CHAPTER Yir. DISEASES OK PREGNANCY ])isoases The diseases of pregnancy form a subject so extensive that naill'v.^ ■'^'^^y might well of themselves furnish ample material for a separate treatise. The pregnant woman is, of course, liable to the same diseases as the non-pregnant; but it is only necessary to allude to those whose course and eifects are essentially modified by the existence of pregnancy, or which have some peculiar effect on the patient in consequence of her condition. There are, moreover, many disorders which can be distinctly traced to the existence of pregnancy. Some M:\uy are. of them are the direct results of the sympathetic irritations ]it hetlc' which are then so commonly observed ; and, of these, several derange- are only exaggerations of irritations which may be said to be ^^'^^ normal accompaniments of gestation. These functional de- rangements may be classed under the head of neuroses, and they are sometimes so slight as merely to cause temporary inconvenience, at others so grave as seriously to imperil the life of the patient. Another class of disorders are to be Others are traced to local causes in connection with the gra^dd uterus,' incfhameal ^^^^j ^^.^ either the mechanical results of pressure, or of or complex ^ in tlieir some displacement or morbid state of the uterus ; while the origin. origin of others may be said to be complex, being partly due to sympathetic irritation, partly to pressure, and partly to obscure nutritive changes produced by the pregnant state. Derange- Among the sympathetic derangements there are none ofTli'* which are more common, and none which more frequently digestive produce distress, and even danger, than those Avhich affect the •-^y^tem- digestive system. Under the heading of 'The Signs of Jvxcessive Pregnancy,' the frequent occurrence of nausea and vomiting nausea or y^^^ already been discussed, and its most probable causes con- vomiting. • . . , r ■ • J J sidered (p. 147). A certain amount of nausea is, mdeed, so