THE FEMALE GENERATIVE ORGANS 551 



compared with about 8000 in a normal woman. It is stated 

 that there is a diminution in the number of red corpuscles during 

 the first days of the puerperium, a circumstance which is 

 commonly ascribed to the loss of blood at delivery and the 

 lochial discharge. It is also said that the amount of haemoglobin 

 is reduced, and that there is a relative increase in the quantity of 

 fibrin and serum. Experiments show, however, that there is no 

 appreciable shortening in the coagulation-time of the blood, 

 such as has been supposed to account for the thrombosis of the 



sinuses. 1 



The pulse rate during the early days of the puerperium is 

 usually stated to be somewhat below the normal, but according 

 to Longridge such cases are unusual. Williams a says that the 

 pulse is slowest on the second or third day, after which it 

 becomes quicker, resuming its normal rate after about ten days. 



The temperature is ordinarily normal during the puerperium, 

 the old idea that the commencement of milk secretion was 

 associated with a rise of temperature having apparently no 

 basis in fact, excepting in cases of infection. 



Little attention has been paid to the changes which occur 

 during the puerperal period in animals. Strahl has shown 3 that 

 the Mammalia with so-called full placenta (commonly called 

 Deciduata) can be arranged under three groups according to 

 the process of puerperal involution of the uterus. In the first 

 group, to which Man and monkeys belong, the epithelium is absent 

 from the mucosa, and requires, therefore, to be re-formed in the 

 manner described above. In the second group the placenta is 

 spread out over the inside of the uterus as in ^ the first group, 

 but in addition to this the inside of the organ is covered by a 

 layer of epithelium. This arrangement is found in Carnivores. 

 In the Rodents we often meet with the third form ; here, towards 

 the end of gestation, not only is the womb covered with cell- 

 tissue, but this epithelium also runs from the firrbrise right 

 underneath the placenta, undermining it till it is finally only 

 adhering to the walls oi the uterus by a slender cord carrying 



1 Longridge, loc. cit. 2 Williams (Whitridge), loc. cit. 



3 Strahl. " The Process of Involution of the Mucous Membrane of the 

 Uterus of Tarsius spectrum after Parturition," Proc. Section of Sciences, 

 Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, vol. vi., 1904. 



