An essay upon the spontaneous evolution of the foetus / by John Kelly.

  • Kelly, John.
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay upon the spontaneous evolution of the foetus / by John Kelly. 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.

    19/64 (page 15)
    beyond reach, and the hand found lianging* in the vagina. 1 would explain this circumstance, and the different causes of praeternatural labour, in the following^ ways. When the head of a child presents, in a woman, whose pelvis is deformed, it is driven, by the action of the uterus, against that projection of the pelvis, which constitutes the deformity, and upon this projection it will rest. The head being thus fixed, the whole force of the uterine action ne- cessarily bears upon the inferior extremities, which are urged lower and lower still by every returning pain, till, at length the child becomes completely doubled, and lies cross ways in the uterus. By a continuance of the same action, and the altered position of the child, the head, which could not pass downwards, is pushed to one side, and thrown up between the Alae Ilii.* The inlet of the pelvis, being thus cleared of the bulky cranium, receives the next portion of the foetus, * I suppose the head to have descended as low as the Linea-ileo pectjnea: it must be a case of extreme defor. mity, indeed, when the capacity between the Al.« Imt will not be sufficient to admit the head of the child.