Aids during labour: including the administration of chloroform, the management of the placenta, and post-partum haemorrhage / By John Rowlison Pretty, M.D.

  • Pretty, John Rowlison.
Date:
MDCCCLVI
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aids during labour: including the administration of chloroform, the management of the placenta, and post-partum haemorrhage / By John Rowlison Pretty, 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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    this is not always the case. They sometimes remain entire until protruded through the ex- ternal orifice, but in these cases witJiout causing delay; in other cases, their adhesion to the uterus is more firm, and they neither break nor protrude, but of course occasion a prolonged first stage, because the liquor amnii which is retained, prevents the more forcihle contractions of the uterus. The delay should never, on slight grounds, be attributed to this cause, and not unless the jjains are active, and the os uteri per- fectly dilatable: when no doubt remains, the remedy is obvious—viz., to rupture the mem- branes.* Dr. Rigby writes : The membranes when too thick or tough may retard labour occasionally, especially during the second stage, when, instead of bursting and allowing the uterus to contract more ])OiDerfidly upon the child by the evacuation of the liquor amnii, they are pushed down into the vagina, forming a large conical sac, which may even protrude externally. We doubt much, however, if the non-rupture of the membranes at the proper time during labour is of itself sufficient to retard its progress; for it is frequently observed, that the head will never- theless advance rapidly, and even be born covered by the protruded membranes.^f It is * Page 207. f Page 180.