CHAPTER VII. 



Of the Natural Phenomena which folloio the Delivery of 

 the Fcetus. 



ARTICLE I. 



Of the delivery of the ^^fter-birth. 



The placenta and the membranes are, after the birth of the child, 

 called the after-birth, and their expulsion, escape, or extraction is {in 

 France) called Delivery. Like child birth, this is a natural function, 

 and like it, this function may also be simple or complex, or, if the 

 expression be preferred, natural or preternatural, spontaneous or 

 artijicial. 



SECTION 1. 



Of simple or natural delivery of the After-birth. 



All the phenomena of simple delivery are referable, 1. To the 

 detachment of the placenta; 2. To its expulsion from the genital 

 organs. 



1177. First stage. The ovum becomes detached during the pro- 

 gress of a labor, and especially towards the conclusion, when the 

 waters have gone off. Being in some sort an inert mass, its adhesion 

 must necessarily be destroyed during the alternate contractions and 

 dilatations of the womb, unless the labor be so prompt as to require 

 almost no effort of the organism, or unless there be some preternatural 

 adhesions. 



The cause of this detachment is found in the entire uterus, and 

 not merely in the orbicular muscle which Ruysch supposed he had 

 discovered. Sometimes the detachment takes place in such a way 

 that the foetal surface of the placenta presents first at the vulva, and 

 the l^lood, either fluid or coagulated, collects behind the spongy sur- 



