Clinical notes on uterine surgery : with special reference to the management of the sterile condition / by J. Marion Sims.

  • J. Marion Sims
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical notes on uterine surgery : with special reference to the management of the sterile condition / by J. Marion Sims. 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.

    415/446 (page 379)
    THE SECRETIONS OF THE CERVIX AND VAGINA SHOULD NOT POISON OR KILL THE SPERMATOZOA. The vagina and the canal of the cervix each secrete a mucus peculiar to itself. That of the vagina is acid; that of the cervix very slightly alkaline. These secre- tions become changed in character and consistence by any inflammatory action set up in the glandular appara- tus that gives rise to them. We shall consider their deviations from a normal condition, 1st. Of the vagina] secretions; and 2nd. Of the cervical. 1. The vagina is subject to an inflammatory action, which may arise from a specific cause or not. Vaginitis is a most troublesome affection; it matters not from what cause it originates. It usually has a spe- cific origin, but it may arise spontaneously; sometimes it is secondary to some irritating discharge from the uterus. Sir Charles Locock* says: There is one ma- terial point connected with leucorrhcea, and especially where the discharge is purulent or of an acrid charac- ter. In such instances it is well known that sexual in- tercourse will often bring on a train of symptoms very much resembling gonorrhoea in the male. This, when occurring between husband and wife, has often led to much domestic unhappiness, from the supposition of one * Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, article Leucorrhcea.