u r E 



U T E 



ofwner. In one cafe, the hsemorrhage returned on difcon- 

 tinuing the medicine, and ceafed on repeating it. Thefe 

 foiall dofes had good effefts in catarrhal coughs, even in 

 thofe which attend confumptions ; and if not beneficial, 

 are at leaft not hurtful, in bloody coughs, in which vo- 

 miting has feveral times been obferved to come on, without 

 any increafe of the hsemorrhage. They may be ufeful in 

 peripneumony and pleurify, in which cough is often the 

 moft troiiblefome fymptom, and in w hich feneka root 

 (which in increafed dofes proves alfo emetic) has been fo 

 much recommended. 



Uterine Brothers or Sixers are thofe born of the fame 

 mother, but by different fathers. 



UTERINUM Jecur. See Jecur. 



UTERINUS, Furor, in Medidne. See Furor. 



Men are fubjeft to the like difeafe, as well as women ; 

 fo that it might with more propriety be called, the furor 

 vtntreus, or venere&l fury. It had its mme, furor uterinus, 

 from an opinion, that it proceeded from vapours, rifing 

 from the womb to the brain. 



It has been frequently found, that maids, fuppofed to be 

 poflefled, were only feized with uterine fury. 



Uterinus Lapis, in Natural Hijlory, a name given 

 by fome authors to a ftone found in New Spain, and in 

 fome other parts of America ; it is very hard and heavy, 

 of a beautiful black, and capable of a very elegant polifh. 

 The natives cut it into various (hapes, and apply it to the 

 navel in difeafes of the womb, and pretend that it poflefles 

 very great f rtues. 



UTERUS, in /Inalomy, the womb, the organ in which 

 the embryo is received from the ovarium, to which it becomes 

 adherent fo as to receive the materials of its growth, and in 

 which it is retained for a longer or (horter time in various 

 fpecies, until its expulfion in the procefs of parturition. 

 A proper uterus belongs only to the mammaha ; oviparous 

 generation, under various modifications, is found in the 

 other clafles, and the female organ is therefore reduced to a 

 mere canal (oviduft) for the tranfmiffion of the ova. See 

 Ge.veration. See alfo Conception, Gestation, and 

 Embryo. 



Uterus, Inveijlon of. Sometimes the uterus defcends 

 through the os tincse into the vagina, and occafionally quite 

 out of the vulva. The firll cafe is termed the incomplete ; 

 the fecond, the complete invcrfio uteri. In the latter, the 

 vagina is alfo drawn downward, and inverted, fo that the 

 whole tumour, f.tuated before the parts of generation, fcems 

 to hang by a pedicle, compofed of the inverted vagina. 

 Between this pedicle and the labia, there is no interfpace 

 which will admit a probe. The outer furfacc of the tumour 

 is, in faft, the lining of tlie uterus itfelf. 



It being obvious, that the fundus uteri cannot defcend 

 through the os tincx-, unlefs this aperture be confidcrably 

 dilated, it follows, that an inverfio uteri can only happen 

 juft after delivery ; and one common caufe of the accident 

 13, the unfl<dful employment of force in the extraftion of 

 the placenta. Polypi, growing from the fundus uteri, 

 however, are particular cafes, in which the inverfiou of this 

 organ may take place from its being drawn downwards by 

 the weiglit of fuch tumours. 



Great pain, inflammation, tumefaftion, and haemorrhage, 

 are the ulual coufequcnces of an inverfion of the uterus. 

 Even mortification, coiivulfions, and death may refult from 

 the complete form of the difeafe, cfpecially when it has 

 occurred in a very fudden manner. 



The reduftion of an inverted uterus ought to be attempted 

 without the leaft delay. 1 he lunger tlie operation is dc- 



VoL. XXXVII. 



ferred, the more difficult it becomes ; for, in thefe cafeS, 

 pain, inflammation, and fweUing, generally come on with 

 great rapidity. If inflammation (liould already prevail, there 

 are fome praftitioners, who think it beft to apply leeches 

 and fomentations to the fwelling, before undertaking its 

 reduftion. It is certain, however, that very little time 

 fhould be allotted to any proceedings, before endeavouring 

 to reduce the part, which can hardly be kept from inflaming 

 more and more, the longer it remains out of its natural 

 fituation. Leeches, fomentations, and even venefeftion, 

 muft, however, be highly proper, whenever the firft attempts 

 at reduftion do not immediately fucceed. 



In very old cafes, in which the fundus uteri has fuffered 

 long compreiTion in the vagina, fuch an alteration takes 

 place in the (hape and flrufture of the uterus, that the in- 

 verfion is totally incurable ; and all that can then be done is 

 to reflrain its further defcent by means of a peiTary. 



The uterus, befides being inverted, may alfo be in a 

 fcirrhous, or aftually cancerous ftate. In this circumftance, 

 the propriety of amputating the difeafed organ has been 

 eftablifhed by feveral precedents recorded in the annals of 

 furgery. Yet the prudence and utility of this operation 

 muft very much depend upon, whether the uterus is the only 

 part affe£led with the difeafe ; whether the lymphatic 

 glands in the groin and within the abdomen are found ; and 

 whether the general ftate of the patient is fuch as to juftify 

 a rational hope of recovery. 



Uterus, Polypi of. See Polypus. 



Uterus, Procidentia or Prolapfus of. See Prolapsls 

 Uteri. 



Uterus, Rdroverfwn of. See Retroversio Uteri. 



Uterus, Rupture of This accident may happen in any 

 kind of labour ; the caufe of it is probably the uterus being 

 thinner and weaker in fome part than is ufual, particularly 

 near to its union with the vagina, that being found to be the 

 moft common feat of the accident. That it is not occafioned 

 by any peculiar difeafe of the uterus, is probable, as there 

 are no fymptoms occurring during pregnancy from which 

 we might judge it to be likely to happen, but in the courfc 

 of the labour, an hour or two before the accident takes 

 place, the women complain of an exceedingly acute pain m 

 fome part of their bellies. At the moment of the rupture, 

 they feel that fomething has given way within them. The 

 labour-pains ceafe ; and, if the head of the child has not 

 pafled the veins of the pelvis, it recedes, and gradually 

 gets out of the reach of the fingers. Vomiting, palenefs of 

 the face, Cghing, and a cold fweat, (h«wing the magnitude 

 of the difafter, fucceed. The pulfe becomes weak, quick, 

 and fcarcely perceptible ; and at the end of twenty-four, 

 thirty-fix, or forty-eight hours the woman dies. 



If the perfon attending is competent to the bufinefs, it is 

 right to follow the child with his hand through the rent in 

 the uterus, into the abdomen, and to bring it away by its 

 feet. This is not done fo much with a view to preferve the 

 life of the woman, who almoll iuevit.ibly perifhes, as to fave 

 the child, which, if the operation is immediately performed, 

 may often be done. The late Dr. Andrew Douglas relates 

 the hiftory of one cafe iu which the woman was alfo favcd. 

 It is the only cafe of the kind on record, or perhaps that 

 ever occurred. To give the woman this chance, the opera- 

 tion muft be performed immediately, for as the uterus is 

 found fpeedily to contraft, and diminifh the aperture, to 

 attempt it after that lias taken place, would be to reopen the 

 wound, to renew the hxmorrh.tge, and confequcntly to 

 haften the death of the woman. 



Uterus ofjljh. Among the fidi kindf, all thofe which 

 4 !• are 



