A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery . f this progressive shortening of the cervix ( to 77). The cervix is generally described as having lost one-halfof its length at the sixth month, two-thirds at the seventh, and to beentirely obliterated in the eighth and ninth. The correctness of theseviews was first called in question in recent times by Stoltz in 1826, butDr. Duncan,1 in an elaborate historical paper on the subject, has shown 1 Researches in Obstetrics. PREGXAXCY. 137 that Stoltz was anticipated by AVeitbrech in 1750, and to a less degreeby Roederer and other writers
A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery . f this progressive shortening of the cervix ( to 77). The cervix is generally described as having lost one-halfof its length at the sixth month, two-thirds at the seventh, and to beentirely obliterated in the eighth and ninth. The correctness of theseviews was first called in question in recent times by Stoltz in 1826, butDr. Duncan,1 in an elaborate historical paper on the subject, has shown 1 Researches in Obstetrics. PREGXAXCY. 137 that Stoltz was anticipated by AVeitbrech in 1750, and to a less degreeby Roederer and other writers. This opinion is now pretty generallyadmitted to be correct, and is upheld by Cazeaux, Arthur Farre,Duncan, and most modern obstetricians. Indeed, various post-mortemexaminations in advanced pregnancy have shown tnat the cavity of thecervix remains in reality of its normal length of one inch, and it canoften be measured during life by the examining finger on account of itspatulous state (Fig. 78). During the fortnight immediately preceding Fig. Cervix from a Woman dying in the Eighth Month of Pregnancy. (After Duncan.) delivery, however, a real shortening or obliteration of the cervicalcavity takes place; but this, as Duncan has pointed out, seems to bedue to the incipient uterine contractions which prepare the cervix forlabor. An Apparent Shortening is always Present.—There is no doubt anapparent shortening of the cervix always to be detected during preg-nancy, but this is a fallacious and deceptive feeling, due to the soilnessof the tissue of the cervix, which is exceedingly characteristic of preg-nancy, and which to an experienced finger affords one of its best diag-nostic marks. Softening of the Cervix.—In the non-pregnant state the tissue of thecervix is hard, firm, and inelastic. When conception occurs, softeningbegins at the external os, and proceeds gradually and slowly upwarduntil it involves the whole of the cervix. By the end of the fourthmonth both lips of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectobstetrics, bookyear1
