580 MANAGEMENT OF LYING-IN WOMEN. 



It is true, that if not carefully applied, the bandage soon rolls up 

 into the form of a string, and becomes more hurtful than useful; 

 that, as M. Desormeaux remarks, most of those women who neg- 

 lect to apply it, are not evidently worse off on that account, and that 

 the use of it could not have entered into the original plan of the con- 

 stitution; but as, when placed so as to produce no uneasiness nor 

 pain, I cannot perceive how it can do any harm, and as in many 

 cases it is incontestably useful, we should by rejecting it expose our- 

 selves, without any motive, to see symptoms arise which at first it 

 would have been very easy to repress or prevent. 



It is composed, first of a towel folded into a triangular shape, 

 which is placed on the hypogastrium with the point downwards, and 

 then of another napkin which is folded once or twice lengthways, 

 and passed round the body like a bandage, embracing the hips. 



To prevent it from getting into folds the last napkin should be sup- 

 ported above by a scapulary on the two ends of a bandage arranged 

 like suspenders, and below by pinning the ends of her doth to it. 



The doth, formed of a piece of fine linen folded three or four 

 times, and sufficiently long to cover the vulva, and go to be pinned 

 to the body bandage both before and behind, is designed to receive 

 the fluids that are discharged from the vagina, and to prevent the 

 bed-clothes from becoming soiled with them: when care is taken to 

 renew them frequently, and not to pin them too tightly, none of the 

 ill effects will ensue so justlj' attributed to the old fashioned doth, 

 of which some women still make use, and which consisted of various 

 tampons kept in the vulva, and which more or less strictly stopped the 

 passage of the vagina. Although it is not an indispensable article 

 of dress, it seems to me that it may safely be permitted as a means 

 of cleanliness to those persons who desire to have it, or who set any 

 particular value upon its use. 



1237. The new heel, to which the patient is about to be transfer- 

 red, ought to be furnished with an oil cloth, if one can be had, and 

 with a sheet folded into four layers, or of any other piece of linen fit 

 to protect the mattrass. The bed-clothes, the coverlids, and the ar- 

 rangement of the bolsters do not require any interference on the 

 part of the accoucheur, and ought, like every thing else to be suited 

 to the season and the habits of the woman. 



She is to be transferred to the new bed shortly after delivery, and 

 when the vagina is freed from the clots and the fluid blood which 

 commonly follow the expulsion of the placenta. She is then in a 

 state of agitation, and can without inconvenience bear the little shocks 

 which the transfer almost inevitably occasions. If we wait longer, 

 as some authors have recommended from fear of hemorrhage or 



