MIDWIFERY. 
a lady was. riding in a coach, and driving 
over the bad pavement, in consequence of 
which the weak membrane gave way, and 
tlie whole fluid escaped. Instead ot a single 
hydatid, there may be some thousands hang- 
ing in clusters of all sizes. ' There will be 
no symptoms but increase of size^ with oc- 
casional discharges of water; and, when 
the uterus does contract, nothing will come 
away but the water and hydatids. 
There are several other diseases which ap- 
pertain to these organs, but which belong 
rather to the department of surgery than of 
the obstetric branch, and to that depart- 
ment we shall transfer them. These are 
enlarged nymphse, imperforate hymen, dis- 
eased labi®, polypous tumours, schirroils 
and cancerous uterus. 
Final Cessation of the Menses. This is 
a work of time; a work Which proceeds 
slowly, for nature never acts abruptly. The 
discharge is first broken after having con- 
tinued from fifteen to fifty years of age. 
It is necessary, indeed, that it should be 
stopped gradually, to prevent the consti- 
tution from being destroyed ; and it hap- 
pens that the body is frequently broken by 
this event ; in fact it is one of the most 
dangerous periods of a woman’s life. It 
not uncommonly happens that the menses 
at this time become profuse, producing 
dropsy, and the woman is carried off in this 
manner. Another evil is, that at this period 
all glandular complaints which may have 
lain dormant for many years, now come 
forward. A little lump in the breast which 
has hardly been felt for years, will now be 
converted into a formidable cancer, which 
will destroy if not removed. Not nnife- 
quently a tumour, which has long lain harm- 
lessly on the os uteri, will now begin to give 
pain, enlarge, and be troublesome. The 
utmost care is necessary in regard to sim- 
plicity of diet, and regularity of exercise 
and rest ; and the state of the bowels should 
be carefully watched. 
At this period, also, there is a disposition 
to a general enlargement of several of the 
sexual organs, which often induce a woman 
to suppose that instead of finally ceasing to 
menstruate, she has once more begun to 
conceive. The uterus appears to swell, 
the breasts to become full, and there is a 
sense of motion in the uterus as though a 
feetus were in the act of struggling. This 
affection, for want of a better name, is 
generally called spurious pregnancy. Per- 
haps we are not exactly acquainted with 
the cause, but we know what is cf far 
more consequence, and that is, that in point 
of fact, there is no pregnancy whatever, and 
that the symptoms which thus mimic it, 
subside in a few weeks, when' attacked by 
a course of gentle cathartics, and free exer- 
cise, 
CONCEPTIOtf. 
It is usual in this part of a treatise oh 
midwifery, to examine the different theo- 
ries which have been offered to the world 
On the mysterious subject of conception. 
The general physiologist, however, has! 
usually contended that suqh an inquiry is a 
branch of his department, and upon the! 
whole we believe the physiologist to be' 
right. On this account we shall transfer 
whatever is usually offered upon concep- 
tion, to the article Physiology, under 
which the reader will find an account of 
the whole at present known upon this sub- 
ject. 
We have also given a distinct section un- 
der the article Foetus ; to which, there- 
fore, we refer for a minute account of the 
foetus itself, and the contents of the gravid 
uterus in general, in regard to their struc- 
ture and anatomy. 
PREGNANCY. 
Pregnancy produces a great number of 
changes in the constitution, dependent upon 
the change which takes place in the uterus, 
the great centre of sympathy in the female 
frame. It also produces a variety of com- 
plaints which are rather troublesome than 
severe, and many of which must rather be 
palliated, than can hope to be cured till 
the abdomen is relieved of its weight. 
These are sickness, vomiting, heart burn, 
costivehess, or diarrhoea, suppression of 
urine, and its consequences, and especially 
retroverted uterus, from a full bladder 
pressing upon it before it is much-enlarged, 
varicose veins. Pregnancy is also not un- 
frequently succeeded by abortion or mis- 
carriage. AS we proceed we shall have 
occasion to refer to a few of these; the 
rest must be relieved by palliations and 
remedies employed as occasion may de- 
mand. 
Among the earliest proofs of pregnancy, 
or of conception, as it is first called, we may 
mention a disposition to hysteric fits, find, 
especially in delicate habits, a contimwl ten- 
dency to fever; the pulse increased ; the 
palms flushed ; and even sometimes a small 
degree of emaciation ; an alteration in the 
constituent principles of tho blood also 
