MANAGEMENT OF LYING-IN WOMEN. 579 



ratory muscles, it may oppose the return of blood to the thorax, 

 give rise to apoplectic symptoms, as happened to two imprudent wo- 

 men mentioned by Baudelocque, and become the cause of a number 

 of diseases, each worse than the other; the astringent or repellent 

 cataplasms employed for the same purpose, and to prevent the secre- 

 tion of milk, deserve the same reprobation. 



1236. I would say as much of the belly-bandage so much blamed 

 by De la Motte, were it used solely for the gratification of a vain 

 coquetry, but I think it useful in another way. In this, as in all 

 other things, we must take care not to confound the abuse with the 

 wise and reasonable use of things. 



Doubtless, by strangulating the abdomen with a towel, to reduce 

 their size and prevent the formation of scars or inevitable wrinkles, 

 women expose themselves to great dangers, without any chance of 

 obtaining their object; but as has been advanced by Smellie, Bau- 

 delocque, M. Gardien, &c. a bandage that is moderately tight, or 

 simply gives a good support, may be of great service, and counter- 

 act the formation of many serious diseases. The suddenness with 

 which the womb empties itself, causes the abdominal viscera im- 

 mediately after delivery to be all at once relieved from a long con- 

 tinued slate of pressure; the abdominal parietes, as they do not fol- 

 low up the retreating movement of the uterus, no longer support 

 the digestive organs with the same power; a kind of vacuum is ef- 

 fected in the large vascular trunks, and the blood should be determin- 

 ed there with so much the greater force, as it had only penetrated 

 them with difficulty for some months; hence arises a greater ten- 

 dency to hemorrhage, inertia of the womb, inflammations and func- 

 tional disturbances of the liver and intestines. Hence, says Van 

 Svvieten, the syncopes that are so frequently met with in women re- 

 cently delivered, though M. Desormeaux thinks they often depend 

 upon hysteria; again, StoU thinks that this is the principal cause of 

 the puerperal peritonitis. Now, the bandage, as I understand it, is 

 intended to supply as far as possible, the action of the abdominal 

 muscles, to promote the concentric movement of the uterus, and pre- 

 vent tlie atilux of blood towards that organ and the engorgement of 

 all the other viscera: besides, it is easy to acquire an idea of its 

 utility, by reflecting upon the dangers that follow the operation of 

 paracentesis, where the surgeon omits the precaution of applying a 

 compressive bandage upon the belly, after the evacuation of the fluid; 

 for as to degree, the pressurj upon the parts contained within the 

 abdomen experiences nearly the same transition in a woman delivered 

 of a child as it does in a dropsical patient undergoing the operation 

 of tapping. 



