Womb

“ By the thirtieth day the tiny embryo is already one-third of an inch big, and were it practicable, which, of course, it is not, to remove it living from its bed of tissue in the mother’s womb and examine it, even with the naked eye, and still more with a magnifying glass, it would be possible to see the rudiments of the legs, head and arms which are to be. ”

“ How the Womb is Held in Place.—The human uterus, or womb, is held in its proper place in much the same way as a clothes pin sits on a clothes line. The heavier part is the upper part, and that part is held in place partly by resting on the rectum behind, and the bladder in front. When menstruation occurs, the body of the womb becomes much heavier because of the increased amount of blood in its interior. ”

“ Signs.—Signs of future abortion are, extenuation of the breasts, flux of watery milk, pain in the womb, heaviness in the head, unusual weariness in the hips and thighs, flowing of the menses. Signs foretelling the fruit of the dead in the womb, are hollowness in the eyes, pain in the head, anguish, horror, paleness of the face and lips, gnawing of the stomach, no motion of the infant, coldness and looseness of the mouth of the womb, and thickness of the belly, and watery and bloody excrements come from the matrix. ”

“ The Womb has Nerves, Arteries, and Veins, dispers’d. The Nerves give it a sense of Pleasure and Pain, and a sympathy with all parts of the Body: The Arteries and Veins are call’d the Spermatick and Hypogastrick, and consist of an infinite number of Branches springing from all parts of the Womb, exporting the Blood to the 74Trunk of the Vena Cava: The Womb is sprinkled on all sides with Blood imported by the Arteries. These Arteries not only furnish the Womb with a proper Nourishment, but also pour in Blood upon the Placenta, in order to be sent through the Navel String to the Fœtus. ”

“ More than that, the womb which lies centrally and is so important an organ in her body, so enormously enlarged during the last months through which the child inhabited it, returns to its permanent size slowly; its strong, muscular walls tensely contract, but this contraction which reduces its size very much in the first day or two does not complete itself, does not bring the tissues back to the size which they will afterwards permanently maintain, until six weeks have elapsed. ”

“ By it also the foetus leaves the womb. It is marvellous how it varies in size according to circumstances. When the woman is not pregnant it admits the nucleus of a probe or something slightly larger’ (πυρῆνα μὲν μήλης ἐπιδέχεται ἢ βραχύ τι τούτου παχύτερον) . ”

“ When the Ovum, after having lived and grown on its own life-principle, through its journey from the Ovarian nest into the cavity of the womb, has accomplished that connexion with the mother which before did not exist, the filiform vessels on the inner surface of the membrane in question, ought forthwith to begin to wither and be absorbed. ”

“ Nature will work on her own plan, and will develop the bones of the fœtus, while in the womb, to a certain extent, providing she has the means to do so; and if these are withheld, she is very likely to suspend its development altogether, rather than send it forth imperfect. ”

“ The falling of the womb is, when it sinks down to the entrance of the privities, and appears to the eye either very little or not at all. The precipitation is, when the womb, like a purse is turned inside outward, and hangs betwixt the thighs in the size of a cupping-glass.
Cause.—The external cause is difficult child-birth, violent pulling away of the secundine, rashness and inexperience in drawing away the child, violent coughing, sneezing, falls, blows, and carrying heavy burdens. ”

“ Now you have the shirt fast to keep it from sliding upwards, and you are ready to make a band of the chemise to support the womb and abdomen. Bring the chemise tightly together for two or three inches above the pelvis to form a band. Previous to pinning, draw the lump (womb) you feel above symphesis, up, then pin, and the belt you have made of the chemise will support the womb. All is safe now, but you must not leave for two hours. You may have delivered a feeble woman, who may flood to death after delivery of the child, if you do not leave her safe. ”

“ In case of a flux of blood, if the neck of the womb be open, it must be considered whether the infant or secundine come first, which the latter sometimes happening to do, stops the mouth of the womb, and hinders the birth, endangering both the woman and child ”

“ The womb, being placed by nature between the straight gut and the bladder, ought not to be put back again until the powers of both are excited. Now that nature is relieved of her burden, let the woman be laid on her back so that her legs may be higher than her head; let her feet be drawn up towards her private parts, and her knees spread open. Then apply oil of sweet almonds and lilies, or a decoction of mallows, beet, fenugreek and linseed, to the swelling; when the inflammation is reduced, let the midwife rub her hand with oil of mastic, and restore the womb to its proper place. ”

“ But that which is the womb, is the bosom also: both bosom and womb are put for a secret place. What meaneth, “from the womb”? From what is secret, from what is hidden; from Myself, from My substance; this is the meaning of “from the womb;” for, “Who shall declare His generation?” [15] Let us then understand the Father saying unto the Son, “From My womb before the morning star have I brought Thee forth.” What then meaneth, “before the morning star”? The morning star is put for the stars, as if the Scripture signified the whole from a part, and from one conspicuous star all the stars. ”

“ Moreover, the female form, and the cavity of the womb, most suitable for receiving, and cherishing, and vivifying the germ, who does not believe that it has been made as it is by reason and foresight?—because in that part alone of her body the female differs from the male, in which the fœtus being placed, is kept and cherished. ”

“ The contraction of the womb stops the bleeding, one hand should be kept on the abdomen over the womb, to see that it remains hard and retracted. The womb moves under the hand. If it softens, gentle rubbing should be kept up and the womb will soon remain contracted. ”

“ I will endeavor to explain to you the diseases of the womb and ovaries. In the first place, you can injure the womb by129 miscarriages; but previous to this, perhaps the ligaments of the womb were weak, and the cause of the miscarriage might be attributed to that. No female should stand on the ends of her toes and reach, as it injures the womb; all tight lacing is injurious; by costiveness, you impair the womb; lifting, beyond your strength, should be avoided. ”

“ Pregnancy.—The womb enlarges considerably during pregnancy. It exceeds the size of an adult head, and the muscles of its walls are greatly increased, so as to be capable of expelling the child later on. ”

“ The use of the veins that pass through the neck of the womb, is to replenish it with blood and vigour, that so, as the moisture is consumed by the heat engendered by sexual intercourse, it may be renewed by those vessels; but their chief business is to convey nutriment to the womb. ”

“ Duty of Nurse Immediately Following Birth of Child.—As soon as the child is born the nurse should sit by the side of the mother and hold the womb until the after-birth is expelled. The womb can be easily felt in the lower part of the woman's abdomen as a hard mass. ”

“ No mother ever embraced her newborn child more lovingly, or regarded it [Pg 227] with greater tenderness, than the womb receives the quickened ovum. When the ovum is quickened, every fibre of being thrills with a new purpose. A royal place is speedily prepared for the safety, nurture and development of the ovum. ”

“ If the womb is felt [238] drawn up into a hard round ball, in the middle of the abdomen, all is right, and no apprehension need be felt; but if it remains unaltered in size, and is soft, flooding is to be feared, and the hand should be firmly pressed, or kneaded, over the fundus, to bring on contraction.
If there be another fœtus, the womb will remain much the same as before labor, and the child may also be felt. It is better however to make an examination internally, and then, in most cases, the membranes and presenting part of the second fœtus will be found at the upper strait. ”

“ Whatever may be the cause which paralyzes the action of the womb we should endeavor, if possible, to discover and remove it. If however it be beyond our reach, the patient's strength must be supported as much as possible, and the simplest means of exciting the contractions tried first; if these fail the more powerful ones must be tried, always preferring the safest. Finally, if all fail, the hand must be introduced into the womb, the child turned, and brought away by the feet; or the forceps must be used if absolutely necessary. ”

“ The Womb is nothing more than the receptacle in which the impregnated egg is placed, and in which it undergoes all the wonderful changes by which it eventually is developed into a perfect human being. The womb is not therefore absolutely needed in conception, and indeed several cases have been known where the new being was formed without the womb altogether, though not perfectly. Its principal use is in fœtal development, which cannot take place perfectly in any other part of the body. ”

“ In the womb it may be divers ways; by imposthumes, humours, ulcers, by the narrowness of the veins and passages, or by the omentum, in fat bodies, pressing the neck of the matrix, but then they must have hernia, zirthilis, for in mankind the caul reacheth not so low; by overmuch cold or heat, the one vitiating the action, the other consuming the matter by an evil composition of the uterine parts, by the neck of the womb being turned aside, and sometimes, though rarely, by a membrane or excrescence of the flesh growing about the mouth or neck of the womb. ”

“ The fertilized ovum makes a lodgment on the inner surface of the uterus or womb and begins immediately to absorb its nourishment from the maternal organism. It soon develops a heart and blood vessels so related to the blood vessels of the mother that throughout its intra-uterine existence the mother's blood supplies the [20] growing child all of the substance that is built up into bone, muscle, brain and glands, preparing the young child to come into the world a living, breathing, sentient organism. ”

“ The Uterus, or Womb, is the internal sex organ of the woman which serves to hold the fertilized ovum, or egg, from the time of impregnation, during the period of pregnancy during which the ovum develops into the young child, and until the time of the delivery of the child. ”

“ This has the effect of purifying a woman’s blood and preparing the womb to receive the ovum. After this change first takes place several years will be required before she is old enough to marry and raise a family. Until she is married, the ovum each month lingers in the womb a few days and then passes out. ”

“ THE UNBORN CHILD AFFECTED BY THE THOUGHTS AND THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE MOTHER.—That the child is affected in the womb of the mother, through the influences apparently connected with objects by which she is surrounded, appears to have been well known in ancient days, as well as at the present time. ”

“ The imagination, it is supposed, has the power, not only of causing the creation of a new part, but also of destroying one or more of the members of the body. Now, suppose a leg, an arm, or a toe, to be cast off, must it not be expelled from the womb? And who has ever detected 212such an occurrence? Besides, too, is it to be supposed that nature would arrest the flow of blood after the part has been separated from the body of the fetus? ”

“ When there is flooding one may expect to recognize the womb as a large, rather soft mass lying in the mid-line of the abdomen with its upper margin somewhat above the navel. With one hand, or with both if necessary, the mass is grasped in such a way that the fingers cover the top of it and pass backward toward the spinal column; the thumb remains in contact with the front of the organ. ”

“ In many forms of womb disease, their are organic lesions or changes, that can be repaired only by a gradual process, just as an external wound would heal,—not suddenly, but by a constant, slow filling in and building up, or by the gradual development or growth of one cell upon another. ”

“ When it reaches the womb, if there is no ovum present, it may remain there for a period of days awaiting its arrival, or may find its way into one of the Fallopian tubes which lead out to the ovary, and even go in quest of the object of its search as far as the ovary itself. ”

“ In a much smaller group of cases the restoration of the womb to a proper position or the treatment of some other local condition, which can generally be remedied without difficulty, is all that is necessary. ”

“ A friend who has served as an assistant in one clinic where patients were bandaged regularly and in another where they were not, tells me that displacements of the womb were much more common among women treated by the former method. ”

“ After its birth she feeds it from her breasts, before birth through its umbilical vessels, but she originally gives only the eight chromosomes as the father does, and the child's vital principle builds up the body from this foundation. The popular notion that the foetus in the womb is formed through some process of literal abstraction from the maternal tissues is no more true than that the infant is so built up while it is suckling ”

“ By the end of the third month, a definite enlargement of the mother’s body becomes visible, because not only the actual child within her has to be accounted for in the space among her organs, but all the accessory growth of the chamber which accommodates the child in the womb has to find its place, the womb growing rapidly and containing not only the child, but the large amount of fluid by which the child is surrounded, and in which it partly floats. ”