MANAGEMENT OF LABOR. 367 



tion; 2d, that it be possible for the delivery to take place through the 

 natural passages; 3d, that the child be in a good position; 4th, that 

 the cervix be soft and dilatable; 5th, that the general irritability be 

 not too great; 6th, that the digestive organs be in a good state, and 

 7th, that the weakness of the uterine action shall depend upon the 

 want of irritability of that organ. M. Legras advises that it be 

 given also, for the purpose of steadying the head at the superior 

 strait previously to applying the forceps.* 



ARTICLE IIL 



Of Dystocia, or Difficult Labor [preternatural labor, la- 

 borious I., mechanical I., manual L, artificial I., 8fc.) 



857. Labor ceases to deserve the title of spontaneous, whenever 

 by leaving it wholly to the powers of nature, it threatens to become 

 dangerous either to the mother or child. These kinds of labor 

 were for a long time designated by the simple epithets of preterna- 

 tural or laborious: but the distinct acceptation that was attempted 

 to be given to each of these qualifications being quite arbitrary, too 

 much confusion has ensued among the authors who adopted them not 

 to make it desirable to replace them by others. As the term dystocia,t 

 employed by Hippocrates, Sauvages, and M. Desormeaux, expresses 

 all the cases that require the assistance of art, it appears to me the 

 most proper one, and will doubtless be preferred at a future day as a 

 generic term. 



858. As to the subdivisions to be established, it is contrary to the 



* Many children perish in this country from the improper use of ergot. The 

 power of the article ought not to admit of further doubt: it excites, generally 

 ■within thirty minutes after its exhibition, a contraction of the womb which 

 does not wholly cease until the child is born; or in case of any insurmountable 

 resistance, until the strength of the uterus is exhausted. The ergotic pain is a 

 single pain; hence, if the parts are not in a state to admit of the proper dilatation, 

 the ergot destroys the child by causing a contraction or spasmodic effort of the 

 womb which presses the placenta so firmly and so long against the fcetus, that 

 the utero-placental intercourse is as effectually destroyed as it would be, were 

 the after-birth detached. The child which is killed by ergot, dies therefore by 

 asphyxia from the compression of its placenta. Where the os uteri is well di- 

 lated and yielding, and the vagina and vulva in a similar condition, no danger 

 can ensue upon the use of this powerful and valuable article. — M. 



t From Jy?, an inseparable article which imports difficulty, trouble, misfortune 

 and Toxs;, child birth. 



