A treatise on the diseases and special hygiène of females / By Colombat de l'Isère. Translated from the French, with additions, by Charles D. Meigs.

  • Marc Colombat de L'Isère
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diseases and special hygiène of females / By Colombat de l'Isère. Translated from the French, with additions, by Charles D. Meigs. 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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    lapsus that slowly increased. The husband of this girl had no children by her until, after a considerable length of time, he dilated the orifice of the womb, and consummated the act of generation in its very cavity. The pregnancy was in all respects natural, but at the time of her confinement, they were compelled, on account of the rigidity of the os uteri, to make two incisions into it on opposite sides ; after which the child was born dead, and the mother recovered with- out difficulty. [Such relations as the above require a stronger confirmation before they should be deemed credible. They are necessarily hypothetical as to the important steps of the doctrine, and are thus far unworthy of credit.—M.] Several authors, among whom I may mention Haller1 (quoting Kalm,) Paul Portal2 and Nauche,3 have reported instances of prolap- sus uteri occurring during pregnancy; Mauriceau,4 Paul Portal5 and Brodmann,6 have noticed cases in which incomplete and reducible hysteroptosis, after having disappeared in the first months of preg- nancy, has returned towards the conclusion of it, and even during labour itself. In the cases by Garin7 and Ducreux,8 the prolapsus seems to have taken place without any antecedent falling of the womb, and at the very time of the parturient efforts. In some instances, the womb has remained until the end of the labour, partly within and partly outside of the pelvic cavity. Wagner9 and Choppart10 each relate an instance of this kind. Finally, the prolapsion has, in some examples, been spontaneously reduced at the approach of labour; as in the cases published by Loder,11 Saviard,12 Portal13 and Choppart. Whenever an incomplete hysteroptosis becomes complete, then all the symptoms caused by the compression of the bladder and rectum immediately diminish, and the evacuation of urine and by stool take place without any difficulty. However, though the symptoms partly disappear, they are succeeded by increased intensity of the symptoms resulting from the stretching and distension of the peritoneal ligaments, and by numerous other symptoms which we shall detail when we speak of complete falling, or procidentia of the womb. In this third degree of hysteroptosis, the entire body of the womb has passed out beyond the vulva, and the whole organ, which is seen movable and suspended betwixt the woman's thighs, has dragged down in its fall not only the vagina that is inverted, but also the uterine appendages, the bladder, and a portion of the rectum.14 The 1 Disputat. Chirurg. Select. Haller, t. iii. p. 578. 2 La Prat, des Accouch. Sout. d'un Grand Nombre, d'Observations, Observ. x. 3 Malad. propres aux Femmes, t. i. p. 85. 4 Obs. sur la Grossesse et l'Accouch., Obs. vi. 5 Loc. citat. Observ. x. 6 Ephem. decur. ii. an 3 p. 368. 7 Journal de Med., t. iv. p. 165. 8 Mem. de l'Acad. de Chirurg., t. viii. p. 493. 9 Biblioth. Med., t. xiii. p. 114. 01 Traite des Mai. des Voies Urinaires, t. ii. p. 73. 11 Jour, fur die Chirurgie, vii. p. 13. 12 Mem. de l'Acad. de Chirurg., t. iii. et Observ. Chirurgicales. 13 Journal de Med. xiv. 14 The autopsies and cases published by Kerckriug (spicileg. Anat. contin observ. rario-