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.

    172/382 (page 162)
    I am led to this belief in consequence of results since obtained by this practice in similar cases; and I now confidently recommend its adoption whenever fairly indicated, whether pregnancy exists or not. The procedure was not adopted in this instance from a groundless dread of interfering injuriously with the process of utero- gestation; but even at this risk it should not be neglected, so long as a reasonable prospect is opened thereby of securing the mother from danger. We shall, at all events, be justified in selecting, where optional or practicable, the least disastrous of two impending evils. 3. Foetid discharges from the vagina, when not occasioned by the process of decay which retained portions of the placenta, or of the membranes of the ovum, are wont to undergo, are justly regarded as indicative of serious organic mischief. When they occur for the first time at a late period of life, especially if the menstrual function have ceased completely to be performed, the existence of malignant degeneration may, for the most part, be confidently inferred. It must be borne in mind, however, that other conditions, of compara- tively trifling importance in themselves, are, sometimes attended with an offensive state of the secretions; but this circumstance cannot possibly mislead the practitioner, or in any way influence his judgment, as no one of ordinary information would venture an opinion upon the nature of a case of this description, or adopt a decided course of treatment, upon the evidence of the discharge merely, and without submitting the case to a full and satisfactory investigation. Diseases of the uterus, accompanied with foetid discharges, pre- sent themselves under a variety of forms, the particulars of which it is not my intention, in this place, either to describe or enumerate. Those of a malignant character are, generally speaking, preceded and attended by a similar train of svmptoms, both constitutional and local, in each case; varying of course, from time to time, according to the nature of the structure implicated, and the extent and severity of the local affection. A notable preliminary condition is a ple- thoric state of the portal system of vessels, with occasional func- tional impediment of the organs in immediate relation therewith, and especially with symptoms denoting determination towards the region of the uterus. The final catamenial change is remarkable for profuse menstrual and leucorrhceal discharges, the latter usually per- sisting after the former has ceased to appear. Haemorrhoids are a