114 OF TRUE PREGNANCY. 



tended with stercoraceous matters, and in that way interferes with 

 the form of the posterior wall of the vagina. 



293. The small intestines, being raised upwards by the fundus of 

 the uterus, in front of which they are sometimes partially placed, 

 may be in that way so compressed as to occasion colic pains of a 

 more or less violent character; at other times their most movable por- 

 tions engaged in the recto-vaginal excavation, where they are liable 

 to be strangulated and give rise to very serious affections; but they 

 are most frequently thrust towards the lumbar regions, or else mount 

 directly up, pressmg against the arch of the colon, the stomach and 

 liver. 



The diaphragm itself being pushed upwards into the thorax, 

 whose base it enlarges, while its vertical diameter is lessened, is in 

 some degree hindered from executing its contractile movement. 



294. The skin on the lower part of the belly becomes thinner, is 

 covered with whitish blemishes and streaks, arranged in zigzag or 

 curved lines, with the convexity downwards; its meshes enlarge like 

 that of a piece of stuff that yields upon being stretched, without, 

 however, tearing. After the lying-in it appears to be covered all 

 over with reticulated scars, and becomes wrinkled or covered with 

 plaits; in short women, as observed by M. Desormeaux, and I will 

 add, in those where the abdomen attains to a very considerable size, 

 this state of the skin is propagated as far as the thighs and breech. 



295. The aponeuroses become frayed; the inguinal ring enlarges 

 a little, but the linea alba undergoes the greatest changes because 

 it is more peculiarly charged with resisting the weight of the womb 

 and the viscera; instead of one inch, it sometimes is four inches 

 wide at its middle; towards the end of pregnancy we find in its 

 place nothing more than a tissue or net-work with meshes more or 

 less supple. 



296. The navel opens a little, grows more salient and thinner, 

 which renders the occurrence of umbilical hernia very easy. In a 

 great many women there is such a separation of the aponeurotic 

 fibres upon the median line, that it seems as if it were pierced with 

 a lozenge-shaped, or elliptical opening, the ends of which approach 

 sometimes nearer, sometimes less near to the epigastrium or pubis. 

 Further, in this case there is left, after the labor is over, an oblong 

 tumor, a kind of eventration, which is sometimes increased by sub- 

 sequent pregnancies to such a degree, as to permit the womb to turn 

 very much over in front, above the superior strait. 



297. The pressure exercised by the womb upon the vessels of 

 the pelvic excavation necessarily impedes the venous circulation of 

 the surrounding parts; the external organs of generation, too, and 



