SEQUELS OF PARTURITION. 259 



lumbar region, and in the direction of the pelvis ; while their muscular 

 fasciculi undergo fatty degeneration and absorption. 



Such are the organic modifications the genital organs undergo after 

 labor, when everything occurs regularly. But it sometimes happens that 

 the muscular layer of the uterus appears to be struck with paralysis soon, 

 or even immediately after birth ; so that it remains "distended and its 

 cavity so large that the arm can easily be introduced into it. This inertia 

 is not so much to be dreaded in animals as in woman, though it is often 

 troublesome and sometimes serious in them. The debris of the decidua 

 vera, and other effete matters, accumulate in its cavity, and the os being 

 always more or less patent, the air obtains admission, putrefaction com- 

 mences, and grave results may follow. An exploration will discover a 

 variable quantity of sanious, and more or less foul-smelling, matter in the 

 cavity of the organ ; and until this is removed, and the organ made to 

 contract on itself, danger may be apprehended. 



