DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN 599 



of the greatest care, giving vent to a great quantity 

 of the most horrible smelling pus into the pelvic cav- 

 ity. By exercising the greatest care in cleansing the 

 pelvic cavity, and painstaking nursing after the opera- 

 tion, the patient's life was saved. This is only a sam- 

 ple of many cases which might be recorded. Our pur- 

 pose in mentioning this fact is that every woman may 

 be warned by a knowledge of the risk incurred in enter- 

 ing the matrimonial state with a man who has previ- 

 ously led a life of immorality. A man who has led a 

 pure life runs not so great a risk in marrying a woman 

 of impure life, as does a pure woman in marrying a 

 reformed rake. 



Treatinent.— The treatment of pelvic inflammation 

 is essentially the same as that described for ''Inflam- 

 mation of the Ovaries." See page 596. 



Prolapsus, or Falling of the Womb.— Of all 

 forms of displacement of the womb, this is perhaps the 

 most common. A woman suffering from prolapsus 

 complains of tenderness just above the pubes; irrita- 

 tion of the bladder and rectum ; sense of fulness in the 

 vagina; dragging pain in the back, extending around 

 the body, which, with other symptoms, is aggravated 

 by walking or long standing upon the feet ; profuse or 

 painful menstruation; leucorrhea. Sometimes local 

 symptoms are entirely absent, all the unpleasant sen- 

 sations being experienced elsewhere. Patients com- 

 plain of a dull ache at the top of the head, nervousness 

 and depression of spirits, constipation of the bowels, 

 general debility. In very bad cases, the organ some- 

 times becomes so prolapsed that it protrudes from the 

 body, a condition subjecting the patient to great suffer- 

 ing and inconvenience. In these instances, however, 

 the patient may be relieved by a proper surgical opera- 



