266 PRECURSORY SIGNS. 



677. Labor sometimes comes on suddenly, and without any 

 preliminary symptom; however the organism, which rarely pro- 

 ceeds to the exercise of its smallest functions without some pre- 

 lude, is most commonly true to its accustomod march, whenever the 

 question is upon terminating the great act of reproduction. 



From two to fifteen, and even twenty days before the period, na- 

 ture in some subjects seems to try her forces; the belly diminishes 

 in size sensibly; the fundus, and even the Avhole mass of the womb, 

 subsides; the motions of the child are felt more than in common; 

 the infiltration and the varicose condition of the lower extremities 

 increase or now become manifest, if not previously present; the 

 labia pudendi in particular become swelled, softened, and occasion- 

 ally painful; the digestion is better performed; the nausea, vomit- 

 ing, and curious appetite are done away with, if they had not long 

 before ceased to exist; the respiration is not so short, nor so im- 

 peded; the women regain their habitual gaiety and lively humor, 

 are not so sleepy, more disposed to exertion, more active, and often 

 induced to believe, at least in first pregnancies, that their term is 

 further oft than they had before supposed. They have a sense of 

 weight in the pelvis, or, as they say, at ihe fundament, with jnore 

 frequent disposition to stool, and to void their urine. It is then, par- 

 ticularly, that all the articulations, all the ligaments of the pelvic 

 cavity become softened and relaxed; which renders walking, and 

 even standing itself more difficult, more fatiguing, and sometimes 

 even absolutely painful, although the woman is more disposed for 

 them. The secretion of mucus in the genital passages becomes 

 more active, and glairy matter in more or less abundance escapes in 

 flocks from the vagina and vulva; it is not very rare to find the 

 womb in an altogether peculiar state of fibrillar contraction, which 

 may be regarded as a passage from its state of rest to that of its 

 real contraction: that is to say, by touching the os uteri, we feel 

 that it is from time to time in a state of slight tension or constric- 

 tion, and by feeling of the body of the organ above the pubis, a 

 hiovement is found to take place in it; so true is it, that the point 

 of departure of labor cannot always be precisely determined. 



078. These diflerent phenomena, which necessarily vary in num- 

 ber, progress and degree in difl^erent women, are in general of good 

 augury, provided they are not converted into symptoms of disease. 

 They announce that nature is collecting her forces, uniting her re- 

 sources, and making all suitable dispositions to accomplish the func- 

 tion she has been so long preparing for. As to their explanation, it 

 is perfectly natural; they all refer directly or indirectly to the change 

 of position of the womb. By plunging down into the excavation, 

 this organ necessarily presses with more or less force upon the rec- 



