Notes on 'uterine polarity' / by Francis Henry Champneys.

  • Champneys, Francis Henry, Sir, 1848-1930.
Date:
[1880]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on 'uterine polarity' / by Francis Henry Champneys. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    very remarkable theories. For instance, had he cited inversio, instead of procidentia uteri, he would have been absolutely correct, according to the latest scientific views, which regard that state as due to fundal atony, with contraction lower down. Again, we can hardly believe that Reil could have been so near to mentioning intussusception without actually naming it, and at first feel disposed to give him the benefit of the doubt when he speaks of kramphafte Einklemmung der Briiche. But he himself forbids this by saying, in the next page : Bey einer kramphaften Einklemmung der Briiche mittelst des Bauchrings ist derselbe wie im Starrkrampf zusammengezogen, und das Eingeklemmte wahrscheinlich der Reiz, der diese iiberwiegende Contraktion unterhalt, nach Art der querliegenden Frucht. We therefore beg to add these to his list, where they certainly belong, and to remark that inversion of the uterus is really an intussusception, and that both are the results of disturbed polar relations. It is probable that too hard a line is drawn between the conditions of the impregnated and unimpregnated uterus, and that Rett's principle ought to be extended to the latter. It is probable that the unimpregnated uterus is subject to periodical contractions, especially at the menstrual period, and that polar relations exist even in it. In certain cases of haemorrhage from the unimpregnated uterus it is well known, as stated above, that cervical dilatation cures the haemorrhage, probably by producing fundal contraction. The following case shows the efficacy of this treatment in a case where ergot had been given without success :— F. F., aged twenty-one, married two years, never pregnant. For more than two years (before her marriage) she has been subject to too frequent menstruation, which returns every three weeks and lasts a week, leaving her only two weeks clear. This has not been worse since marriage. During the first two days of the flow she has much pain above the left Poupart's ligament, a slight cough at the periods only, and a slight white discharge in the intervals. Nothing amiss could be discovered by finger, speculum, or sound.