402 DYSTOCIA. 



917. Some women are so delicate, or so irritable and nervous, 

 that they fall into syncope from the least pains; in other cases the 

 syncope and fainting are due to the extreme distension of the uterus, 

 to the force of the contractions, to inanition, to an attack of hemor- 

 rhage, &c. In a lady who was pregnant with twins, M. Desor- 

 meaux found them to last throughout the whole interval of the con- 

 tractions, and the woman only came out of them while the womb 

 was reacting with violence upon its contents. Antispasmodics and 

 opiates, either applied to the os uteri or taken internally by the 

 mouth or anus, cordial tinctures and other such articles, a few 

 spoonfuls of sound wine, or of broth, light food, &c. may be tried 

 in succession or by turns; but, says M. Desorraeaux, provided the 

 life of the woman be threatened, we cannot wait for the effects of 

 remedies, no matter how well chosen they may be: under such cir- 

 cumstances, to temporise, would be a serious fault; we should ter- 

 minate the labor as soon as possible, in order to prevent a fatal 

 exhaustion. 



918. It is uncommon for weakness, properly so called, to render 

 a labor difficult; every day, valetudinary and phthisical women are 

 met with who can scarcely stand, and yet bear their children without 

 difficulty. Others are not prevented from being delivered naturally by 

 a state of lethargy, of asphyxia, &c., and on more than one occasion 

 the womb has been found to retain enough contractility in dying wo- 

 men, or in those who had just expired, to effect the expulsion of the 

 ovum. There are two principal reasons why our succors are most 

 commonly unnecessary in these cases; 1. Although the muscles and 

 the uterus have to a great degree lost their contractile faculty, the soft 

 parts of the pelvis and the perineum also offer much less resistance; 

 2. The feeblest women, even those who seem to be upon the point 

 of expiring, ordinarily recover an amount of courage and energy that 

 forms a striking contrast to their extreme exhaustion. 



919. Notwithstanding, it is not a rare thing to see these momen- 

 tary efforts followed by an oppression and sinking, from which the 

 women recover only after having run the greatest risks; many of 

 them even are scarcely delivered till they fall into a morbid collapse, 

 or sink gradually into death after a few hours, as if, in acting with 

 some degree of violence nature's only object had been to terminate 

 the great act of reproduction happily, at the risk of exhausting in an 

 instant the small remaining strength still belonging to the organs! 

 A young woman six months gone with child, who had been labor- 

 ing for thirteen days with an attack of phlebitis, and who was in a 

 decidedly adynamic state, was seized with the pains of abortion at 

 four o'clock in the morning; at ten o'clock the os uteri was soft, and 



