On the causes and treatment of abortion and sterility : being the result of an extended practical inquiry into the physiological and morbid conditions of the uterus, with reference especially to leucorrhoeal affections and the diseases of menstruation / by James Whitehead.

  • Whitehead, James, 1812-1885.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the causes and treatment of abortion and sterility : being the result of an extended practical inquiry into the physiological and morbid conditions of the uterus, with reference especially to leucorrhoeal affections and the diseases of menstruation / by James Whitehead. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    from beginning to end, was merely an exaggerated menstrual dis- charge, passing away, when in considerable abundance, in the clotted form ; but being occasionally in smaller quantity, at which times it was not clotted, but assumed the general characters of the normal menstrual fluid; 2dly, the appearances described seem to suggest the manner in which the menstrual product is separated ordinarily from the circulating current; namely, by simple exuda- tion from the arterial capillaries in communication with the valvu- lar orifices naturally existing upon the inner surface of the uterus. The question of exudation, as applied to the manner in which the catamenial product is separated from the blood, in contradistinction to secretion (by which is meant the elaboration of a product different in character from that which furnished it) is strengthened by the appearance which the inner surface of the uterus is said to exhibit in persons who have died during menstruation; small portions of grumous blood being found attached here and there, more of which may be made to ooze out by pressure, making its escape from numerous vascular openings interspersed over the whole extent of the lining membrane. Spurious menstruation is a term which may be appropriately used to denote a class of symptoms already briefly alluded to, consisting in the development of the menstrual phenomena during pregnancy and lactation, and in certain states of morbid plethora of the uterus and surrounding organs; involving loss of balance in their circu- latory system, with (in the latter instance) partial or total suspension of the normal catamenial function. Under whichever of these con- ditions occurring, it is invariably associated with a morbid state of parts situated external to the uterine cavity, generally of its cervix and labia ; sometimes of a portion of the vaginal mucous membrane. Its existence during pregnancy will be more particularly noticed hereafter. Spurious menstruation occurring in the absence of pregnancy is accompanied with enlargement of the abdomen and of the mam- mary glands, nausea and occasional vomiting, alternate rigors and flushes of heat, languor, loss of rest, precarious appetite, and other symptoms tending to encourage a suspicion of the existence of pregnancy. The abdomen is sometimes enormously and painfully distended, as if caused by accumulation of flatus, and then suddenly subsides, but seldom to the dimensions of the unimpregnated state; there is constant aching of the loins, hips, and hypogastrium; a