On the causes and treatment of abortion and sterility : being the result of an extended practical inquiry into the physiological and morbid conditions of the uterus, with reference especially to leucorrhoeal affections and the diseases of menstruation / by James Whitehead.
- Whitehead, James, 1812-1885.
- Date:
- 1848
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the causes and treatment of abortion and sterility : being the result of an extended practical inquiry into the physiological and morbid conditions of the uterus, with reference especially to leucorrhoeal affections and the diseases of menstruation / by James Whitehead. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![widely different from it in temperature ; the use of the hot bath; acute diseases, the critical periods of fever, gonorrhoea, syphilis; and the effects of medicines used in the treatment of these affec- tions. The symptoms which immediately precede the discharge, are of a kind similar to those which ordinarily announce the ap- proach of menstruation ; namely, a sense of languor and drowsi- ness ; tumefaction or pain of the breasts; fullness of the abdomen ; aching of the loins, &c. The treatment to be adopted in these cases will necessarily vary considerably, according to the state of health of the individual, the circumstances under which the patient may happen to be placed, the nature of the constitution, the quantity and properties of the dis- charge, and the causes to which it is to be referred : because in some instances, immediate abstraction of blood may be called for; in others, the soothing plan, such as may be effected by the admi- nistration of opiates and other sedatives, is indicated ; and some- times a course of alterative and tonic treatment may be beneficially practised. There is no form of disorder in the management of which the nicest discerment and skill on the part of the practitioner is more fully called into requisition. In some instances, the hcemor- rhage consists merely in a profuse, or prolonged, or a too frequently repeated menstruation. In such a case, for reasons already given, it is of the highest importance carefully to ascertain, before an ac- tive course of treatment is entered upon, whether some altered condition of the system,—as fullness of habit, local determination, or a peculiar state induced by the particular nature of the employ- ment or other circumstances, does not necessitate such an evacua- tion for the well-being of the economy. On the contrary, abnormal discharges of blood frequently come on during the early months of pregnancy ; or supervene upon sus- ion or irregularity of the menstrual function, arising from other causes, and being accompanied with abdominal enlargement and the genera] indications, of pregnancy. When this state of things happens in the young unmarried female, the investigation is often fraught with peculiar difficulty; the employment of the only means by which a satisfactory knowledge ^i the case can be arrived at, being obstinately objected to. And even should every.facility for the procedure be afforded, whfcther the existence of pregnancy be substantiated or disproved; it is still one of the most delicate posi- tions in which either patient or practitioner can be placed; involving! 40](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2099915x_0149.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
