OF TRUE PREGNANCY. 113 



elongation cannot take place without increasing the extent of the 

 curves or circles represented by each fibre and vessel in the organ, it 

 follows that the amplification of its cavity must be an inevitable con- 

 sequence of the augmented nutrition of its parietes. 



286. Moreover, the ovum and the womb enlarge both together; 

 and though the end or the function of the thing contained is not to 

 enforce the distention of that which contains it, it at least serves to 

 support its parietes, and to keep up its due measure of irritation. 

 In this, as in all other cases, nature finds the means of multiplying 

 effects without augmenting the number of causes. 



287. Appendages of the uterus. The changes effected in the 

 position, size, and weight of the womb will of necessity occasion 

 some alterations in the disposition of the circumjacent parts. 



288. In consequence of the depression of the cervix during the 

 fiirst months, the vagina becomes shorter and wider; at a later pe- 

 riod being drawn upwards along with tjie uterus, it becomes elon- 

 gated, and at length forms a kind of cone with the apex at the vulva. 

 By means of the fluids it imbibes it becomes softened; its anterior 

 and posterior columns sometimes acquire a very considerable size, 

 especially near their lower ends. 



289. The Fallopian tubes, retained by the broad ligaments 

 against the sides of the womb, enlarge, become redder, more vascu- 

 lar, and, as it were, spongy on the inner surface of their funnel 

 shaped portion. 



290. The ovaries, which are depressed in the same way, also in- 

 crease in size; their vessels dilate, sometimes become varicose, so as 

 even to burst, and occasion a fatal hemorrhagy. 



The fibres of the round ligaments are better expressed, enlarged and 

 redder, so that at the period of labor, they compose two real muscu- 

 lar cords, whose contraction is in certain cases so evident, that I have 

 in three diflferent women observed it myself, and also pointed it out 

 to several persons during the contraction of the womb for expelling 

 the after birth. 



291. The bladder rises above the superior strait; the urethra is 

 concealed behind the symphysis of the pubis, becomes almost verti- 

 cal, its orifice retreats under the summit of the pubic arch, and the 

 introduction of the catheter in pregnant women, is thus rendered 

 more difficult; it may also happen that the urinary bladder, being 

 more forcibly compressed above than below its fundus, may project 

 against the upper part of the vagina, making a tumor there, of which 

 I have often met with cases in the latter half of gestation. 



292. The rectum being, as it were, strangulated above, and no 

 longer receiving any impulsion from the diaphragm, becomes dis- 



II 



