546 



KIUTII. 



however, were not without effect upon him, and, 

 while engaged in the siege of ilic tort Si Catherine's 

 in tin- vicinity of (icnoa, having reason to l>elicvc 

 Uiat the king would come to in-pcci tin- trcnchc-.. he 

 sent wonl to the governor to dispose harqm -\m^,< r-. 

 EO as to fire on him at a certain signal. At tin- deci- 

 sive moment, however, he prevented the king from 

 going to the fatal spot. In Kiiil, peace was made 

 with Savoy. So many negotiations had not, however, 

 escaped the eye of the king, nor could he remain ig- 

 norant of their object, lie therefore hiterro^atcd 

 the marshal as to his designs, with promises of jmr- 

 ilon. It. made a partial confession, and continued 

 his intrigues as before. Noiwiih>tanding this, Henry 

 scnl linn, in the same year, to queen Kli/a belli of 

 r.nuland, to inform her of his marriage with Maria 

 ot Medici. In the menu lime, H.'s confidant l.afiu, 

 liaving become Mispcetid by the count of Fuentes, 

 inn! l>egiiiumg to fear for himself, discovered the 

 whole ploL A frnnk confession and repentance 

 would have saved B., since Henry was inclined to 

 forgive him. He, however, persevere d in his denial, 

 id the offers of pardon, and was, therefore, at 

 the urgent entreaties of tin- queen, at last surrendered 

 to the rigour of the laws. Upon leaving the king's 

 room, he was arrested, carried to the Bastile, tried 

 before the parliament, and beheaded, July 31, liiOjJ. 



BIRTH, or LABOUR, in physiology, is the act by which 

 8 female of the genus innmniuliu brings one of her 

 own species into die world. When the foetus lias re- 

 mained its ilue time in the womb, and is in a condi- 

 tion to carry on a separate existence, it is extruded 

 from its place of confinement, in order to live the life 

 which belongs to its species, independently of the 

 mother. The womb having reached its maximum of 

 growth with the increasing size of the foetus, its pe- 

 culiar irritability excites in it the power of contraction ; 

 it thereby narrows the space within, and pushes out 

 the mature foetus. The period of gestation is very 

 different in different animals, but, in each particular 

 species, it is fixed with much precision. In the womb, 

 the corporeal frame of man commences existence as 

 an embryo ; after further developement, appears as a 

 foetus; then as an immature, and, finally, a mature, 

 child. With its growth and increasing size, the 

 membranes which envelope it enlarge, the womb 

 also expanding to give room for it. At the end of the 

 thirty-ninth or the beginning of the fortieth week, the 

 child has reached, its perfect state, and is capable of 

 living separate from the mother ; hence follows, in 

 course, its separation from her, i. e. the birth. 



Contractions of the womb gradually come on, 

 which are allied, from the painful sensations accom- 

 panying them, labour-pains. These are of two kinds : 

 first, the preliminary pangs, which begin the labour, 

 do not last long, are not violent, and produce the 

 feeling of a disagreeable straining or pressure. 

 When the pregnant female is attacked by these, she 

 is often unable to move from her place till the pang 

 is over, afier which she is often free from pain for 

 some hours. Then follow the true labour-pains ; 

 these always last longer, return sooner, and are more 

 violent. The contractions of the womb take place in 

 the same order as the enlargement had previously 

 done, the upper part of it first contracting, while the 

 mouth of the womb enlarges, and grows thin, and 

 the vagina becomes loose .and distensible. By this 

 means the foetus, as the space within the womb is 

 gradually narrowed, descends with a turning motion 

 towards the opening ; the fluid contained in the mem- 

 branes enveloping the foetus, as the part making the 

 greatest resistance, is forced out, and forms a bladder, 

 which contributes much to the gradual enlargement of 

 the opening of the womb. It is therefore injurious to 

 the delivery, if hasty or ignorant midwives break the 



membranes too soon. By repeated and violent throes, 

 the membranes at length burst, and discharge their 

 contents, and, some lime after, the head of the child 

 appears. As the skull-bones have not yet acquired 

 their perfect form and substance, but are attached at 

 the crown of the. head only by a strong membrane, 

 and may be brought nearer together, tin- head, by 

 the pressure which it undergoes, may be somewhat 

 diminished in size, and squeezed into a more oblong 

 form, so as to pass through the opening of the matrix 

 and the pelvis, in which it is contained, and, finally, 

 through the external parts of generation ; and when 

 this is done, the rest of the body soon follows. 



The act of birth or delivery is accordingly, in ge- 

 neral, not an unnatural, dangerous, ana diseased 

 state of the system, as many timid women imagine. 

 It is a natural process of developement, which is no 

 more a disease than the cutting of the teeth, or thi- 

 coming on of puberty, although, like them, it may 

 give rise to important changes in the body, and to 

 various diseases. It is true, that the proc< 

 child-birth requires a violent exertion of nature, but 

 this is facilitated by many preparatives and helps 

 adapted to the purpose. If the birth succeeds in the 

 way described, it is called a natural birth. For this, 

 it is requisite that the pelvis should be properly 

 formed, and that the opening should permit a free 

 passage to the perfect foetus ; that the growth and 

 size of the foetus should be proportioned to the pelvis, 

 especially that the head should have the size designed 

 by nature, proportioned to the diameter of the pelvis ; 

 also, that there should be a proper situation of the 

 womb, in regard to the axis of the pelvis, and a pro- 

 per position of the foetus, namely, the head down, the 

 back of the head in front, and towards the opening of 

 the womb, so as to appear first at birth ; and, finally, 

 that the external parts of generation should be in a 

 natural state. 



An easy birth takes place without any excessive 

 strainings, and in due season. A difficult birth pro- 

 ceeds naturally, but is joined with great efforts and 

 pangs, and occupies a long time over six or eight 

 hours. The cause of it is sometimes the stiffness of the 

 fibres of the mother, her advanced years, the dispro- 

 portionate size of the child's head, and various other 

 causes. Nature, however, finishes even these births ; 

 and women in labour ought not to be immediately de- 

 jected and impatient, on account of these difficulties. 

 An unnatural (or properly an irregular) birth is one 

 in which one or more of the above-mentioned requi- 

 sites to a natural birth are wanting. An artificial 

 birth is that which is accomplished by the help of art, 

 with instruments or the hands of the midwife. Pre- 

 mature birth is one which happens some weeks before 

 the usual time, namely, after the seventh, and before 

 the end of the ninth month. Though nature has as- 

 signed the period of forty weeks for the full maturing 

 ot the foetus, it sometimes attains, some weeks before 

 this period has elapsed, such a growth that it may be 

 preserved alive, in some cases, after its separation 

 from the mother. That it has not reached its mature 

 state is determined by various indications. Such a 

 child, for instance, does not cry like full grown in- 

 fants, but only utters a faint sound, sleeps constantly, 

 and must be kept constantly warm, otherwise its 

 hands and feet immediately become chilled. Besides 

 this, in a premature child more or less, accord ing 

 as it is more or less premature the skin over the 

 whole body is red, often, indeed, blue, covered with 

 a fine, long, woolly hair, especially on the sides of 

 the face, and on the back ; the fontanel of the head 

 is large, the skull-bones easily moved ; the face 

 looks old and wrinkled; the tyes are generally 

 closed ; the nails on the fingers and toes, short, ten- 

 der, and soft, hardly a line in length ; the weight of 



