DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 355 



from the womb and in the interior of which may be felt the 

 characteristic solid body of the foetus. If the latter is still 

 alive and can be stimulated to move the evidence is even 

 more perfect. The foetus may die and be carried for years, 

 its soft structures becoming absorbed so as to leave only the 

 bones, or by pressure it may form a fistulous opening through 

 the vagina or rectum. In the latter cases the best course is 

 to favor the expulsion of the foal and to wash out the result- 

 ing cavity with a solution of carbolic acid one part to water 

 fifty parts. This may be repeated daily. Where there is no 

 spontaneous opening it is injudicious to interfere, as the 

 danger from the retention of the foetus is less than that from 

 septic fermentations in the enormous foetal sack when that 

 has been opened to the air. 



MOLES ANIDIAN MONSTERS. 



These are evidently products of conception in which the 

 impregnated ovum has failed to develop naturally and pre- 

 sents only a chaotic mass of skin, hair, bones, muscles, etc., 

 attached to the inner surface of the womb by an umbilical 

 cord which is itself often shriveled and wasted. They are 

 usually accompanied by a well-developed foetus, so that tbe 

 mole may be looked upon as a twin which has undergone 

 arrest and vitiation of development. They are expelled by 

 the ordinary process of parturition, and usually, at the same 

 time, with the normally developed offspring. 



CYSTIC DISEASE OF THE WALLS OF THE -WOMB 

 VESICULAR MOLE. 



This condition appears to be due to hypertrophy (enlarge- 

 ment) of the villi on the inner surface of the womb, which 

 become greatly increased in number and hollowed out inter- 

 nally into a series of cysts or pouches containing liquid. 

 Unlike the true mole, therefore, they appear to be disease 

 of the maternal structure of the womb rather than of the 

 product of conception. Rodet, in a case of this kind which 

 had produced active labor pains, quieted the disorder with 

 anodynes and secured a recovery. Where this is not availa- 

 ble attempts may be made to remove the mass with the 



