The diagnosis, pathology, and treatment of diseases of womem : including the diagnosis of pregnancy / by Graily Hewitt.

  • Hewitt, Graily, 1828-1893.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diagnosis, pathology, and treatment of diseases of womem : including the diagnosis of pregnancy / by Graily Hewitt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    Hibly proved by Mr. Sadler, in his work on the Law of Population, «that the fecundity of the human race is diminished by the ' indolent and luxui'ious mode of life prevalent among the rich, ' whilst it is augmented by the labouring habits and spare diet of ' the poor . . . the proportionate infecundity of the two being, in general terms, as 6 to 1.'* In women who are unusually fat an inaptitude to conceive is often observed. Syphilis.—It is well known that the presence of syphilitic disease in either parent is frequently the cause of abortion or of premature birth. It may be questioned, however, whether the presence of syphilis is not occasionally the cause of sterility by destroying the product of conception at so early a period of the pregnancy that the very existence of pregnancy is for that reason unrecognised—the woman being really capable of conceiving, .but the product of conception quickly perishing. The effect of syphilitic disease in disturbing the normal growth of the decidua at the commencement of pregnancy has hardly been, as yet, the subject of attention; but it is quite possible that disease of the decidua of a syphilitic character may come hereafter to be a re- cognised pathological condition. Facts which have come under my own observation have led me to suspect that syphilis may give rise to the effect here alluded to. Conclusion. In endeavouring to ascertain the cause of the sterility, it will be necessary for the observer carefully to examine into the history and antecedents of the patient, the manner in which menstruation is performed, and the general condition of the bodily health. Further, it will generally be necessary to examine the vagina and the external generative organs, and, if no cause for the sterility be there found, to examine the uterus. In carrying out the examination of the parts in question, the eye and the touch are both to be employed. In investigating the condi- tion of the uterus, the speculum and the uterine sound, one or both, are required. TEEATMENT OF STEHILITT. The cure of sterility is dependent upon removal of the cause, whatever that may be, and the means of cure are necessarily almost as numerous as the causes. It is unnecessary here to con- sider these seriatim : the more so as the conditions leading to * On Constitutional Diseases of Females, 1830, p. 7,