An exposition of the signs and symptoms of pregnancy : the period of human gestation, and the signs of delivery / By W.F. Montgomery.

  • Montgomery, W. F. (William Fetherston Haugh), 1797-1859.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An exposition of the signs and symptoms of pregnancy : the period of human gestation, and the signs of delivery / By W.F. Montgomery. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

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    embarrassing as they are numerous and deceptive, even to those who have long and carefully considered them ; among whom, I apprehend, few will be found to dissent from the opinion of Van Swieten,that there is no circumstance where a physician's reputa- tion runs so great a risk, as when he is employed to determine concerning pregnancy: if he is not exceeding cautious, there are, every where, a number of frauds, a number of insidious, cunning tricks, by which he may be easily imposed upon : under such circumstances, then, I may hope that the present work will not be considered superfluous, especially, as there is not, as far as I know, any sufficiently comprehensive account of the subject, either in our own language, or in any other, of which I am aware. Schmitt's work on Doubtful Pregnancy, which has been deservedly spoken of in such high terms by Dr. Gooch and others, is undoubtedly of great practical value, but it was written nearly twenty years ago, and consequently contains no information on some points of importance, with which later investigations and recent discoveries have enriched obstetrical knowledge: thus, for instance, he does not, and indeed could not, mention the application of mediate auscultation as a means of ascertaining certain phenomena connected with pregnancy; other modes of examination of still more recent date are, of course, unnoticed by him, and even some of those which have been long known, he notices but very briefly, or omits altogether ; ballottement, or repercussion, he dismisses almost in a line as superfluous and hazardous; the evidence to be derived from the mammary sym- pathies, he hardly alludes to, and of the characters belonging to the areola, he gives no description at all; nor does he enter into any of the details connected with the examination of the uterus and its appendages after death, and of course omits the important subject of the corpus luteum. Still, his work, as an account of several cases of doubtful pregnancy, and the modes of examination adopted in their investigation, is of great utility, and will be referred to, with signal advantage, by all who are engaged in such enquiries.