368 DYSTOCIA. 



rules of reasoning to found them upon the nature of the means that 

 are employed where nature is insufficient for us any longer to con- 

 form to the principles laid down by Solayres, Baudelocque, &c. The 

 faults of such a method are too evident for it to be necessary to 

 enumerate them; it should suffice us to remember that by follo\ying 

 them, the same cause of dystocia, the same accident, for example 

 a hemorrhage, may by turns cause the same fact to be classed by 

 turns among the preternatural, laborious, mechanical, mixed, manual, 

 &c. labours, according to the ability, or good pleasure of the 

 accoucheur. 



It is, therefore, infinitely better to base them upon the causes that 

 may give rise to difficult labor. This plan, which has been adopted 

 by Merriman and M. Desormeaux, exhibits real and indisputable 

 advantages; it readily applies to all possible cases, enables us to 

 reduce or multiply genera and species without in any way interfering 

 with the general classification, and, besides, can combine with all the 

 Other methods proposed by the various authors. After all, difficult 

 labor is characterised by the accident which complicates it, and not 

 by the kind of assistance required in it. 



859. The causes that render labor difficult depend either upon the 

 mother or the child. Some of them are unforeseen, or do not occur 

 until the moment of parturition; the tide of accidental may be appro- 

 priated to them. Others exist beforehand, and render the labor 

 necessarily difficult: they merit the denomination of pre-existing 

 causes. 



The accidental or unforeseen causes are: any serious disease, such 

 as inflammation of the brain or its coverings, of the lungs or pleura, 

 of the peritoneum or uterus, &c. which takes place during labor: 

 any hemorrhage sufficiently abundant to endanger the life of the 

 mother or her oflfspring; convulsions, syncope, laceration of the 

 womb, the premature escape of the cord, hernia, aneurism, asthma, 

 great debility, &c., and some positions which do not become bad 

 until after the first pains. 



The pre-existing causes are: deformities of the pelvis, malfor- 

 mation or disease of the organs of generation, calculus in the blad- 

 der, fibrous or other tumors in the excavation, deformities in respect 

 to height, transverse positions, monstrous conformation, and diseases 

 of the foetus. 



As these different causes are in reality only complications of 

 labor, it follows that dystocia comprises all cases of complicated 

 labor, as eutocia comprehends all simple labors. 



