Volume 1

Observations on some of the more important diseases of women / By James Blundell. Edited by Thomas Castle.

  • Blundell, Dr., 1790-1878.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on some of the more important diseases of women / By James Blundell. Edited by Thomas Castle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    40/306 (page 26)
    mucous discharges, or from floodings, or from frequent child-birth or from other causes, this dilatation contributes greatly to the descent of the viscera; for the smallness of the vagina is a principal security against these troublesome displacements.* Another cause is an elongation of the broad ligaments, which may become stretched so far as to allow of a more extensive movement of the womb, which they ought to retain in connexion with the sides of the pelvis. Lastly I may add, a certain aptitude which the parts acquire through -frequently descending; for if a woman has once laboured under procidentia of the bladder, womb, or vagina, the descent of the parts, often repeated, seems to form and adapt them to the change of position, hence for a length of time afterwards, if not throughout the remainder of life, there is always more or less tendency to yield to the impulse. Therefore among the more immediate causes of these descents of the pelvic viscera, you may enumerate the three following as of principal and proxi- mate operation,—the conformability of the parts, derived from a frequent descent,—the elongation of the broad ligaments,—and the relaxation of the vagina,—more especially when they are acting in co-operation with an unusually large pelvis. WEIGHT OF THE UTERUS A COMMON CAUSE. If the womb becomes enlarged and heavy, (large and as weighty, for example, as the head of a full-grown fcetus,) whether the result of pregnancy, scirrhus, polypus, or other causes, it no doubt tends to bring on a prolapsus. Now these descents are more especially incident to women immediately after delivery, when the largeness of the vagina, and the increased weight of the uterus, are found to concur; accordingly you will find, that most women who have had a great many children, if they rise early, within the * The naturalist might, I think, reasonably enumerate the small size of the human vagina, as compared with that of any other of the mammiferous females, among the indications that our race was designed forthe erect posture. Dr. Blundell.