FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
933 
Royal Society by the Rev. Samuel Haughton, F.R.S. In 
the first stage of natural labour the involuntary muscles of 
the uterus contract upon the fluid contents of this organ, and 
possess sufficient force to dilate the mouth of the womb, and 
generally to rupture the membranes ; and he endeavours to 
to show, from the principles of muscular action already laid 
down, that the uterine muscles are sufficient and not much 
more than sufficient, to complete the first stage of labour, and 
that they do not possess an amount of force adequate to rup- 
ture, in any case, the uterine wall itself. In the second stage 
of labour the irritation of the foetal head upon the wall of the 
vagina provokes the reflex action of the voluntary abdominal 
muscles, which aid powerfully the uterine muscles to com- 
plete the second stage by expelling the foetus. The amount 
of available additional force given out by the abdominal 
muscles admits of calculation, and will be found much 
greater than the force produced by the involuntary contrac- 
tions of the womb itself . — Popular Science Review. 
Increase in Temperature of the Pulse. — Dr. 
Rattray has contributed a very valuable paper on this impor- 
tant subject to the f Proceedings of the Royal Society/ from 
which we take the following : — 
Temperate climate (near 
England), June,T. 65° 1\, 
average of 10 days. 
Tropics generally, 
average of 51 
days. 
Equator, 
T. 84° F., average 
of 7 days. 
9 a.m. . . 
?/./ 98-1 
98-51 
98-5 
3 p.m. . . 
?/.? 98 3 
99- 
99-5 
9 p.m. . . 
9/.T 98-5 
98-47 
99-1 
Average . 
?/,J 98-3 
98-66 
99-02 
While observation thus showed that the average temperature 
of the body about the latitude of England is 91*3° F., the 
following Table shows that it rises in the tropics to 
98^-99-99i, and occasionally even to 100° F. This fact is 
interesting, if not important, in connection with temperatures 
in disease ; and the mutual relation of the two is worth 
study. — Ibid. 
XLIII. 
61 
