Observations on obstetric auscultation : with an analysis of the evidences of pregnancy, and an inquiry into the proofs of the life and death of the ftus in utero.

  • Kennedy, Evory, 1806?-1886. [from old catalog].
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on obstetric auscultation : with an analysis of the evidences of pregnancy, and an inquiry into the proofs of the life and death of the ftus in utero. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

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    quainted, and into those which from their nature are re- stricted in their recognition to the individual supposed pregnant, and with which the attendant can only become acquainted through her representations. Of the evidence of the latter class, some depend upon sympathetic, others upon mechanical causes. We must bear in mind the fact, that the human frame is com- posed of a variety of organs supplied with nerves enabling it to perform a double function ; first, one by which it maintains its connexion with the external world, receives impressions, and performs certain voluntary and involun- tary motions and actions ; and, secondly, one which unites the parts of the animal frame, constituting it a whole. This last quality, with which every part of the body is more or less endowed, is termed sympathy. The nearer animals approach to the most perfect state of ex- istence, the more acute will be their sympathies ; or, in other words, the more perfectly organized the animal is, the more will the well being of the whole depend on the right execution of each individual function. On the other hand, in cold blooded animals, where each separate part possesses a greater share of individual vitality, there is much less sympathy between the different organs and functions of the body ; and of course we find a less per- fect general organization. Blumenbach explains this by the proportion the brain bears in size to that of the nerves proceeding from it, which in the inferior animals is much smaller than in the higher classes. Sympathy has a general and particular operation; genera], when the whole frame sympathises with an or- gan ; particular, when one organ sympathises with an- other. This sympathetic connexion is much more ob- servable between some organs than others, and it is in
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