Fluor albite— Whites. This is another and very common complaint. Most wo men conclude it leads to disease, and some are much alarmed at itsappearance. In procidentia uteri, it arises mechanical. ly ; for its cure, which is sometimes very tedious, the cold water bath is the best remedy of any that we know of : cold water may be injected into the vagina, and if this be not sufficient, an astringent may be added. The case is most unma nageable, when arising at the cessation of the menses : here it often precedes dis ease of the uterus, and should be treated as if we were in expectation of scirrhus ; recommending a careful abstinence from wine and spirits ; animal food to be quite cut off, if the constitution will bear it ; to gether with which, no exercise of any consequence should be allowed. An oc casional purge should also be given ; the injection and bath being used regu larly.
Preddeutta uteri, or the falling down of the uterus. The uterus is connected la terally to the pelvis by the broad liga ments ; and interiorly by the round liga ments. When these parts have lost their tone, they allow the uterus to fall through the vagina, so that the menstrual discharge has been frequently seen comingfrom the lowest part of the tumour, the os uteri. The most frequent causes are, rising too soon after delivery, or after Next to fluor album, it is the most com mon female complaint that is met with. There is a dragging feel in the back, and uneasiness about the hips, arising from the dragging at the broad ligawnts there is alsoa pain in the groin, ale the tedium these sensations produce are ex ceedingly uncomfortable, though not a mounting to pain. The procident uterus will at last interfere with the stools and urine, and be pushed down at those times, when the woman tells us she feels some thingli ke an egg; this gradually increases, tin at last it falls altogether out of the body, producing pain, and perhaps ulcer ation of the os uteri, from the contact of the clothes ; and the bladder, from its connection with the uterus, being drag ged down, makes an angle with itself, which stops the passage through the ure thra. Now while there are these powers acting in brining it down, there are no Muscles to bnng it back ; and where gra vitation leaves it, there disease finds it. The only sure relief for procidentia ute ri is from the use of pessaries; the best are of an oval form flattened on both sides; the outer edge must be left broad and rounded off, as it is in close contact with the soft parts round it ; but towards the hole in the middle it may be made thinner, and this will diminish the bulk and weight : these are to be kept,of dif ferent sizes. The best are of wood ; the cork pessaries cannot be kept dean. They were formerly made round ; but this is more inconvenient, and obstructs the passage of the urine and faces; they also used to be made with very large holes, this was dangerous ; the os uteri has become strangulated it ; when this has happened, a pair of pliers may be so introduced, as to break down the ring, so as to enable us to get it out. In introducing this instrument, it is
annointed as we please, and so passed edgewise ; it is to be laid across the pel vis in such a manner that the largest di ameter is from one ischium to that on the opposite side. This disease is curable in early life by a horizontal posture, and the use of astringent solutions.
Drops, of Me Onarium is by no means an uncommon disease ; its first symptom is a sense of pressure on the bladder or rectum ; it may further affect the nerves and absorbents, producing dependent symptoms. But it is so long before it pro duces any real illness, that the water has sometimes been drawn off for some months before any other complaints have been felt From one tumour, forty-nine pints have been drawn off; and in a few days afterwards, from another tumour in the same patient, nine pints more. There is a case mentioned by Bonetus, where one hundred and twelve pints were drawn off. The fluid in these cases is not serous, but gelatinous and glary ; and there has been fat and hair found in these tumours, and even teeth ; this will happen where there has been no impregnation. It is a disease which may be borne a long time : in one patient, who had it from the year 1770 till 1798, it was tapped as often as eighty-four times. In the memoirs of the Royal Academy, a woman is mentioned, who had it from the age of thirty to that of eighty. It always begins on one side, and gradually spreads over the other. As to treatment, none in the way of me dicine has been known to have the least effect upon it. Tapping will not always be quite successful; therefore, the tient should be warned of the pmbabihty of there being more cysts than one.
Another complaint, to which females are subject, bus been called Dropsy of the Uterus ; but, for many reasons, no such disease can exist, and the expression therefore is incorrect. The cases men tioned of this disease have most probably been hydatids in the uterus. It is, how ever, a slight complaint, which cures it self. Dr. Clarke mentions a case, where a lady tvith a tumour of this kind went in to a pastry-cook's shop, and sat down in the parlour ; the wet which she felt in creased, till the whole shop was deluged, and very unpleasant conjectures were the consequence. In another case, a lady was riding in a coach, and driving over the bad pavement, in consequence of which the weak membrane gave way, and the whole fluid escaped. Instead of a single hyatid, there may be some thousands hanging in clusters of all sizes. There will be no symptoms but increase of size, with occasional discharges of water ; and, when the uterus does contract, nothing will come away but the water and hyda tids.