The Dublin practice of midwifery / By Henry Maunsell, M. D., with notes and additions by Chandler R. Gilman.

  • Henry Maunsell
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Dublin practice of midwifery / By Henry Maunsell, M. D., with notes and additions by Chandler R. Gilman. 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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    prevent the woman from sleeping, it may be neces- sary to give an anodyne ;* but, as the contractions are a natural occurrence, and intended to remove coagula, which, if retained, might be injurious, it is as well, if we can so manage, to avoid a stoppage of the uterine action by narcotics. Several accidents may happen during labour, which, after its completion, require to be under- stood and attended to by the accoucheur, although the treatment of many of them falls strictly within the province of surgery. Of these, we shall take a brief notice. Lacerations of the Perineum have been already alluded to : they may occur merely as rents of the posterior commissure of the vulva, or they may extend into the rectum ; or, lastly, the head of the child may be driven through the perineum, leaving the posterior commissure entire, and constituting what has been termed the circular perforation. In * Extracti opii aquusi gr. jss. in pilula ; vel tincturae opii, gtt. xxx. in haustu. [I often combine an opiate and a purgative, Castor oil gss. with laudanum, 5ss. It produces the very best effects ; given 11 hora pmtni it secures a g^ood night's sleep and a free evacua- tion of the alimentary canal, with entire dissipation of the after- pains in the morning. Ergot (5 grains or gtt. x. of the tincture) given every hour, will often promote complete contraction of the uterus, insure the evacuation of any clots, and relieve the pains. Dewees was very partial to the following mixture :— R. Pulv. Gum. Camphor, 3ii. Pulv. Gum Arabic, 3iii-—sachar- rum alb, 3i, aqua font %vi. m. Dose, a table-spoonful every hour or two.—Ed.]
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