of Edinburgh, Session 1870 - 71 . 
379 
what influence paraplegia may exert on the uterus itself. Besides, 
the cases are insufficient in every way. 
The arguments on which I place chief reliance are the follow¬ 
ing:— 
1. The great power of the uterus felt by the hand of the 
accoucheur, as in the operation of turning, long after the rupture 
of the membranes. 
2. The great and sufficient power of the uterus observed in cases 
where the action of the voluntary muscles is weak or restrained. 
3. The regulating influence of purely uterine pains in the pro¬ 
gress of the second stage of labour. 
4. The supremely important demand for and presence of power¬ 
ful uterine action after the expulsion of the child. 
5. The arrest of the progress of labour by inertia of the uterus. 
This argument appears to me unanswerable, for tire condition often 
occurs when there is certainly only the slightest possible resistance 
to the progress of the child, when the mother ardently desires the 
completion of labour, and bears down violently with this object in 
view. 
6. In cases of uterine inertia, such as are above described, the 
practitioner may find, by pulling with the forceps from below or 
pushing with the hands from above, in the absence of all partu¬ 
rient effort, whether of the uterus or of the voluntary muscles, 
that a very small force, say not exceeding the weight of the child, 
is sufficient to finish a labour upon whose progress violent bearing 
down efforts have had no effect. 
7. The circumstance that, were the voluntary muscles the chief 
agents, expulsion of the child would be in great part a voluntary 
act, which it certainly is not. 
8. The asserted completeness of the function of parturition in 
animals in which the assistant bearing down efforts are annihi¬ 
lated by opening the abdomen; the process being effected by their 
uterine and vaginal muscles, which are weak when compared with 
that of women. 
Baudelocque and Velpeau* relate cases which appear to show 
that woman has very rarely voluntary power over the progress of 
parturition for a time Such cases offer no difficulty when regarded 
* Traite complet de l’art des Accoucli. Ed. Bruxelles, p. 227. 
