The great crime of the nineteenth century : why it is committed? Who are the criminals? How shall they be detected? How shall they be punished? / by Edwin M. Hale, M.D.
- Edwin Moses Hale
- Date:
- 1867
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The great crime of the nineteenth century : why it is committed? Who are the criminals? How shall they be detected? How shall they be punished? / by Edwin M. Hale, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![pregnated ovum, and as a consequence, expels the embryo or foetus, prematurely. A few of these diseases are, in tlieir nature, incurable; but the great Qiiajority are amenable to proper therapeutic measures^ ivhen used by competent physicians and sn/rgeons. We will instance a few of these conditions, especially those of a local character, to better illustrate our position. Inflammation and ulceration of the neck of the uterus, is the chief cause of abortion, the latter, ]3robably, a more prolific cause than the former. That variety o± abortion termed '•'■ habitual^'''' is usually caused by a kind of ulcer known as the fissured, although all the other varieties of ulceration may produce it in women of irritable con- stitutions. Ulceration of the uterus in non-pregnant women is now considered to be as amenable to scientific treatment as many other curable diseases. Even ulceration during preg- nancy, may be considered curable if proper care and atten- tion be used. Until the time of Bennet,^ it was considered unjustifiable to treat ulceration in the pregnant woman, and that the cure of such lesions was hardly possible with- out causing miscarriage. Dr. Bennet, however, dissipated this erroneous opinion, and proved, by numerous cases, that it was not only justifiable, but highly proper to treat ulceration under such conditions. The experience of some of my colleagues, as well as my own, abundantly proves that habitual abortion may be pre- vented by timely and judicious treatment applied during pregnancy.f Retroversion of the uterus occurring previous to, or dur- ing pregnancy, was once considered as a cause of inevita- ble abortion. But in the present condition of surgical sci- ence, we know that appliances have recently been discover- ed which do away witli the necessity of abortion, or the need of allowing it to occur from that displacement. In view of these facts, we cannot reason otherwise than that in many cases of abortion from curable disease, either the mother, the father, or the ])liysician, are accessories before tlie fact. Ignorance of tlie existence of such causes, and their means of cure may sufiice to relieve the parents from * Vide, P.ciinct on Inflammation and Ulceration of tlie Uterus, t Ibid: Transactions of N. Y. State Uom. Society, 180G.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21056377_0032.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
