REPRODUCTION. 665 



uterus, assisted by those of the muscles in the abdominal 

 walls. When the child is born, it has attached to its navel 

 the umbilical cord, which is then usually ligatured and cut 

 across: some good authorities, however, maintain that this 

 should not be done until after the contractions which expel 

 the placenta, as otherwise a quantity of the infant's blood 

 remains in that organ; the loss of which might be serious to 

 a feeble infant. Shortly after the birth of the child renewed 

 uterine contractions detach and expel the placenta, both its 

 foetal or allantoic and maternal or decidual part, as the after- 

 birth. Where it is torn loose from the uterine wall large 

 blood sinuses are left open; hence a certain amount of bleed- 

 ing occurs, but in normal labor this is speedily checked by 

 firm contraction of the uterus. Should this fail to take 

 place profuse haemorrhage occurs (flooding] and the mother 

 may bleed to death in a few minutes unless prompt measures 

 are adopted. 



For a few days after delivery there is some discharge (the 

 locJiia) from the uterine cavity: the whole decidna being 

 broken down and carried off, to be subsequently replaced by 

 new mucous membrane. The muscular fibres developed in 

 the uterine wall in such large quantities during pregnancy 

 undergo rapid fatty degeneration and are absorbed, and in a 

 few weeks the organ returns almost to its original size. The 

 parturient woman is especially apt to take infectious diseases; 

 and these, should they attack her, are fatal in a very large 

 percentage of cases'. Very special care should therefore be 

 taken to keep all contagion from her. 



There is a current impression that a pregnancy, once 

 commenced, can be brought to a premature end, especially in 

 its early stages, without any serious risk to the woman. That 

 belief is erroneous. Premature delivery, early or late in 

 pregnancy, is always more dangerous than natural labor at 

 the proper term; the physician has sometimes to induce it, 

 as when a malformed pelvis makes normal parturition impos- 

 sible, or the general derangement of health accompanying 

 the pregnancy is such as to threaten the mother's life; but 

 the occasional necessity of deciding whether it is his duty to 

 procure an abortion is one of the most serious responsibilities 

 he meets with in the course of his professional work. 



Dr. Storer, an eminent gynascologist, states emphatically, 



