PREGNANCY.
Pregnancy produces a great number of changes in the constitution, dependent upon the change which takes place in the uterus, the great centre of sympathy in the female frame. It also produces a variety of complaints which are rather troublesome than severe, and many of which must rather be palliated, than can hope to be cured, till the abdomen is re lieved of its weight. These are, sickness, vomiting, heart-burn, costiveness, or di arrhoea, suppression of urine, and its consequences, and especially retroverted uterus, from a full bladder pressing upon it before it is much enlarged, varicose veins. Pregnancy is also not unfrequent ly succeeded by abortion or miscarriage. As we proceed we shall have occasion to refer to a few of these ; the rest must be relieved by palliations and remedies employed as occasion may demand.
Among the earliest proofs of pregnan cy, or of conception, as it is first called, we may mention a disposition to hysteric fits, and, especially in delicate habits, a continual tendency to fever ; the pulse increased; the palms flushed; and even sometimes a small degree of emaciation ; an alteration in the constituent principles of the blood also generally arises, giving a bully appearance to the blood ; and if from any complaint fever ensue, this buff will be greater in quantity than at any other time it would have been; the face will grow thinner, the fat being gradually absorbed. There are also other symp toms of, hectic ; but the changes in the countenance are most observable. The little fever sometimes occasions a great churlishness of temper; a woman in such circumstances can hardly bear speaking to, and it frequently creates a degree of fre•fulness unitnown before.
Another sign of pregnancy is pain and tumefaction in the breast, which is only a part of the uterine system, and is af fected from the same cause with the ute rus. The areola becomes darker and broader than before; the rete mucosum is sometimes so altered, that it is as dark as that of a mulatto, while the skin gene rally is as fair as alabaster. The breasts
enlarge, and will not bear the pressure of clothes so well as before ; the woman will not be able to lie on one side so well as before : this proceeds from the akin not increasing in proportion to the secre tion of the glands.
The next part that sympathizes with the uterus is the stomach ; this is gene rally perceived in the morning ; for though occasionally it is affected the whole day, it is generally felt on first be ing erect in the morning. The morning sickness in the progress of pregnancy is closely connected with the growth of the child; so much so, that it has sometimes been a rule to judge that where this ceases the child is dead. Pregnant wo men have antipathies and longings ; and this desire is in some for the most strange things, it is well known to almost every medical practitioner. No woman can be with child if she menstruate; this is the sine qua non of pregnancy ; for though there may be sometimes an appearance of blood, there is not that regular appear ance of uncoagulating fluid which con stitutes the menses ; even in Hippocrates we may see this. if in a young woman, between the age of fifteen and thirty-two, the breasts shoot and are very painful, and she be not regular ; if the areols be enlarged and dark, and she have morn ing sickness, there is little doubt but that she is with child. It is not likely that all these things should by any acci dental cause be present at the same time, though any of them may arise. There are also peculiar symptoms attend ing the pregnancy of particular women, ass cough, tooth-ach, head-ach. Dr.0 lark* relates an instance of a person being as completely salivated during a certain pe riod of her pregnancy, as ever was a patient in the Lock Hospital. When these symptoms occur they mark a peculiar idiosyncrasy in the constitu tion, and are the surest possible indica tions.