48 OF THE PELVIS. 



not be able to obtain from this apparatus such exact results as its in- 

 ventor seems to hope for. 



123. However multiplied the means of measuring the pelvis, it 

 must have been seen from the foregoing, that even the most skilful 

 accoucheur will never be able to attain to the mathematical precision 

 that is desirable; but is this a reason for rejecting them entirely, and 

 asserting with Puzos that the operation itself is of no use ? This 

 author, otherwise so correct, has assuredly gone too far, in saying that 

 a young woman ought to be forbidden to marry, if she had ever been 

 affected with rickets, or if she have a spinal deviation, and humanity 

 and justice both appeal from his judgment. How many ill-shaped 

 women bring large robust children with the greatest ease into the 

 world ? Another serious inconvenience might attach to such a 

 general proscription : many women would pay no respect to the 

 prohibition, and not be slow in convincing themselves that they had 

 been frightened with dangers wholly chimerical. Hence, what al- 

 most always occurs when the effect does not follow the threat, those 

 who run some risks upon being married, and those who run no risks 

 at all would equally turn a deaf ear to advice. On the other hand, 

 it would be absurd to deny the importance of pelvimetry, in labor, 

 when a decision must be made between embryotomy, and the dan- 

 gerous operations that may be performed upon the mother. Finally, 

 by citing, for the purpose of proving the uselessness of pelvic men- 

 suration, the cases of women who were not afraid to become preg- 

 nant again after having once undergone the Caesarian operation, 

 Puzos seems to me to have misunderstood their true position: is it 

 really the attraction of pleasure that always induces them to yield 

 to the brutal husband that the law has given to them: is it fair to 

 compare a woman who fears above all things to lose the affections 

 of a man to whom she is united for life, to a young girl, who, free 

 from all entanglements, ought to think first, and above all, of her 

 own safety ? 



ARTICLE 11. 



Of the Sexual Organs^ 



123. In women, as in men, the organs of reproduction are partly 

 enclosed within the pelvis, and partly exposed on the exterior sur- 

 face of that cavity, 



