126 OF TRUE PREGNANCY. 



anterior lip, a softer, larger, more regular and less elastic tumor 

 which does not crepitate; but this projection, which I have met with 

 at every stage of pregnancy, evidently depends upon the bladder, 

 the bas-fond of which presses the corresponding wall of the vagina 

 more or less downwards; I should not dare to affirm, moreover, 

 that it does not pretty frequently exist independently of the state of 

 gestation. 



,S30. Thus, until the second or third month, the sensible signs, 

 the touch itself, cannot, any more than the rational signs, give us a 

 mathematical certainty of the existence or non-existence of gestation. 

 They sometimes permit us to establish a diagnosis that is more or 

 less probable, but never certain; so that during this period, the touch 

 is in fact but a feeble resource, and women should not, without strong 

 motives, be subjected to it. 



At a later period, although the practitioner cannot affirm posi- 

 tively that there is a foetus in the womb, he can at least be sure that 

 the organ is considerably increased in size. Thenceforth all that is 

 necessary is to distinguish real gestation from the diseases that are 

 sometimes confounded with it. Soon afterwards we are able to 

 perform the hallottement, and to perceive tlie spontaneous move- 

 ments of the child, which are the only phenomena that prove beyond 

 question the existence of pregnancy. 



331. Ballottement. In effecting what is called baUottement, after 

 having first placed the index finger under the cervix, the summit of 

 the other hand is to be applied over the fundus of the womb, by 

 pressing it against the belly, which is to be carefully depressed so as 

 to push away the bowels and fat. In Jhis way the womb is held in 

 the most exact manner possible, by the two extremes of its longitu- 

 dinal diameter, and now the womb is to be suddenly pushed upwards 

 with the finger that is in the vagina, while the hand on the hypogas- 

 trium attends to and judges of the motion experienced by the ovum. 

 The fcEtus, which is moveable, free, and the only solid substance 

 within the amniotic fluid, strikes directly opposite to the point 

 that received the impulse. If the hand that is outside receives no 

 shock, the motion is to be sent back to the other one in the vagina. 

 Should the first attempt fail, it is repeated several times, communi- 

 cating the impulse with each hand alternately, and taking all proper 

 precautions not to give the woman any pain. The same thing hap- 

 pens here that is seen in physics when experiments are made on the 

 transmission of motion. Indeed, let a vessel full of water be struck 

 on any part of its circumference, and the little figures that have been 

 suspended in it by means of glass bubbles or small bits of cork will 

 immediately move to the opposite side. But it is easy to understand 



