A text-book of diseases of women / by Charles B. Penrose.

  • Charles Bingham Penrose
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A text-book of diseases of women / by Charles B. Penrose. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ani or a recto-vaginal or vesico-vaginal fistula appear before the mother leaves her bed. The suffering from a laceration of the cervix, a subinvolution of the uterus, or a retrodisplacement may not be felt for some weeks or mouths after labor; while the still more remote re- sult, the development of cancer, may not appear for many years, though it can be positively traced to the lesion in the cervix as the primary cause. Septic infection of the genital tract kills or makes invalids of many women. The infection occurs at the time of a miscarriage or of a normal labor, or it may be acquired from the dirty instruments or the dirty hands of a physician. It is not a cause of disease among civil- ized women alone, but occurs among barbarous and semi-barbarous races. Venereal disease, especially gonorrhea, has been said to be the most common cause of disease among women. The disease extends from the external genitals through the uterus and Fallopian tubes, causing sterility, chronic invalidism, and death from peritonitis. Errors of development are frequent causes of disease and suffering among women. Atresia of the vagina or of the cervix uteri, by causing retention of the uterine discharges, produces most serious pathological conditions. Arrested development of the whole or of part of the uterus is a common cause of disease. Improper clothing and an improper mode of life dur- ing the period of development are most fertile sources of diseases of women. Clothing which contracts the waist, as well as clothing which, though not unduly tight in the inactive state, yet interferes with abdominal respira- tion during activity, is most injurious. Such clothing diminishes the capacity of inspiration by restricting ab- dominal expansion, and thus crowds down the pelvic organs toward the pelvic floor; and the continuous sup- port to the abdominal walls diminishes their natural muscular strength and places the woman in a condition predisposing to the various displacements of the uterus.