880 The Philippine Journal of Science 1915 
performance of any other operation, such as the dilatation of 
the cervix by metal dilators and balloons, would require at least 
one or two hours and then there would be the additional risk 
of rupturing the artificially dilated lower segment of the uterus 
if forceps application or podalic version was made in an attempt 
to deliver the child. - We found from the result of our observa- 
tions that Cesarean section is the best and safest procedure to 
follow in all cases of placenta previa where the cervical canal - 
is not widely dilated, because we can prevent in this way the loss 
of much blood which would surely result if the cervix were to 
be forcibly dilated for the extraction of the foetus through the 
parturient canal. In Cesarean section we have always obtained 
good results in cases of placenta previa and eclampsia, except in 
cases where the patients come in bad condition; these usually 
die, no matter what kind of intervention is made. 
Some authorities claim that labor subsequent to the per- 
formance of Cxsarean section is dangerous, citing several cases 
where the uterus has ruptured in the scar of the uterine incision. 
Three of our patients on whom we performed Cesarean section 
for placenta przvia have returned to us for delivery, and in 
these three cases labor was perfectly normal in every way, thus 
proving the conclusion that Czesarean section does not predispose 
to rupture of the uterus during labor as long as the suturing of 
the uterine wound is properly made to effect good and complete 
healing. 
Among our cases there were two abdominal pregnancies, one 
of which was interstitial ovarian pregnancy, while the other was 
interstitial uterine pregnancy. To extract the foetuses, which 
were alive, laparotomy was performed in both cases. 
A few cases of contracted pelvis necessitated the application 
of forceps, but none of them required the performance of pubiot- 
omy, Cesarean section, or the like. The reason is that a con- 
tracted pelvis seems to be just as rare here as in other countries, 
although it is true that, compared with the pelvis of white women, 
Filipino women have small pelves. The size of the Filipino 
woman’s pelvis has attracted our attention since the department 
was organized, and although we made it a routine practice to 
take the external measurements of every parturient both in the 
hospital and outside, we did not begin to make a more systematic 
determination of the average external and internal measurements 
of the female pelvis in this country until last year. Our work 
along this line is still going on, and therefore I am not in a 
position to offer any final conclusion; but in order to give an 
idea of the difference between our measurements and those given 
