ACTION OF THE FEMALE. 979 



puffy turgescence, and an increased development of the little glandular follicles, 

 or tubercles, which commonly secrete a dewy moisture. Many other changes 

 in the constitution take place during pregnancy ; indicated by the buffiness of 

 the blood, the irritability of the stomach, and the increased excitability of the 

 mind. All these, however, are discussed with sufficient amplification in works 

 on Obstetric Medicine. 



985. The act of Conception, being one of a purely organic nature, is not 

 itself productive of any sensation on the part of the mother ; but there are 

 some women in whom it is attended with certain sympathetic affections, such as 

 faintness, vertigo, &c., that enable them to fix upon the particular time at 

 which it has taken place. From that period, however, the mother has no direct 

 consciousness of the change going on in the uterus (save by the effects of its 

 increasing pressure on other parts), until the occurrence of what is termed 

 "quickening/' This is generally described as a kind of fluttering movement, 

 attended with some degree of syncope or vertigo. After it has once occurred, 

 and has strongly excited attention, it is occasionally renewed once or twice, and 

 then gives place to the ordinary movements of the foetus. Not unfrequently, 

 however, no movement whatever is felt, until near the end of the term of ges- 

 tation, or even through the whole of it. As to the cause of the sensation, 

 Obstetricians are much divided; and no satisfactory account has been given of 

 it. It has been vulgarly supposed to be due to the first movement of the foetus, 

 which was imagined then to become possessed of an independent life : and the 

 English law recognizes the truth of this doctrine, in varying the punish- 

 ment of an attempt to procure Abortion, according to whether the woman 

 be " quick with child" or not; and in delaying execution when a woman can 

 be proved to be so, though it is made to proceed if she is not, even if she be 

 unquestionably pregnant. Whether or not the first sensible notions of the 

 foetus are the cause of the peculiar feeling in question, there can be no doubt 

 that the embryo has as much independent vitality before, as after, the quicken- 

 ing. From the time that the ovum quits the ovary, it ceases to be a part of 

 the parent, and is dependent on it only for a due supply of nourishment, which 

 it converts, by its own inherent powers, into its proper fabric. This depend- 

 ence cannot be said to cease at the moment of quickening; for the connection 

 must be prolonged during several weeks, before the foetus becomes capable of 

 sustaining life without such assistance. The earliest period at which this may 

 occur will be presently considered ( 990). 



986. At the conclusion of about nine (solar) months from the period of con- 

 ception, the time of Parturition arrives. In this act, the muscular walls of the 

 uterus are primarily concerned ; for a kind of peristaltic contraction takes place 

 in them, the tendency of which is to press the contents of the cavity from the 

 fundus towards the os uteri, and finally to expel them ; and this contraction is 

 alone sufficient to empty the uterus,- when no impediment is presented to the 

 exit of the foetus, as we see in the occasional occurrence of post-mortem parturi- 

 tion. It is, in fact, in the contraction of the fibres of the fundus and body of 

 the uterus, and in a relaxation of those about the cervix (which relaxation is 

 something quite different from a mere yielding to pressure, and is obviously a 

 vital phenomenon that marks a peculiarity in the actions of this part), that the 

 first stage of an ordinary labor essentially consists. There is no proof what- 

 ever that these changes are dependent upon nervous influence; in fact, there is 

 much evidence that the parturient action of the uterus is not the result (as some 

 have maintained it to be) of a " reflex" action of the Spinal Cord, but is due to 

 its inherent contractility; for numerous instances have occurred, in which nor- 

 mal parturition has taken place, notwithstanding the destruction of the lower 

 part of the Cord, or the existence of a state of complete paraplegia which 

 marked its functional inactivity; and the continuance of the peristaltic action 



