Chapter II: The Peculiarities of Certain Accidental Acute and Chronic Diseases (4)

{478} The ovum during the first months of pregnancy is an oval cyst-like body surrounded by the chorion, the shaggy tufts of which give it a characteristic readily-recognized appearance. Enclosed within is the delicate transparent amnion, and the embryo, attached to the navel-string, floating in the clear liquor. At six weeks the size of the ovum is likened to that of a pigeon's egg; at eight or nine weeks to that of a hen's egg, perhaps 1½ inches in length; at the twelfth week, to that of a goose-egg, some 4 inches in length. In the second month the ovum forms a bulging prominence in the uterine cavity, usually toward the fundus, and reveals all the parts recognized at term with the exception of the placenta and the still distinct umbilical vesicle: its surface is covered by the tufts of the chorion and surrounded by the decidua reflexa. In the third month it is so far developed as to completely occupy the uterine cavity, as yet but slightly adherent, approximated, a part of it agglutinated to the uterine mucosa, to the decidua serotina, the greater mass of the chorion being in no way adherent to the surrounding reflexa. The tufts of the chorion begin to sprout and develop more fully at its point of contact with the uterine wall above the decidua serotina, whilst upon the remaining and greater portion of its surface their growth ceases, and as the membrane distends the delicate filaments gradually disappear. At the end of the third month, in the fourth month, the tufts of the chorion have sufficiently developed in its adherent portion to form the rudimentary placenta, and at the end of the fourth month this is developed still more--has become more dense and large, whilst the remaining portion of the membrane appears smooth and barely shows a few scanty remnants of the once-shaggy tufts.

The growth of the ovum now rapidly outstrips that of the uterine cavity; the membranes are pressed more firmly against its walls, approximated to the decidua vera, but not by any means agglutinated. In the sixth month the placenta has been thoroughly formed--it has become dense and large, the foetal membranes beginning to agglutinate to the uterine wall, and the conditions existing at term are rapidly approached. The embryonic tissues are supplied with the necessary nutriment by endosmosis from the surrounding maternal structures during the first months; the entire surface of the chorion absorbs, whilst this function is delegated to the proliferating villi as they develop and agglutinate with the decidua serotina, foreshadowing the activity of the placenta by which the foetus is nourished to term.

Practically, the most important period in the development of the ovum is the one most dangerous to its existence--in the third and fourth month, that period of intense activity of chorion and decidua, the time of the formation of the placenta, when hemorrhage is likely to occur from the congestion of the vessels so necessary to the nutrition of the rapidly-growing and delicate tissues. Nutriment is no longer merely absorbed by the succulent embryonic cells of the ovum from the tissue in which they are in contact, but the embryo is forced to seek sustenance through those now fully-developed tufts of the chorion--from the proper site, the decidua serotina and the surrounding vessels--directly from the uterine structures. If hemorrhage interferes or disease prevails, the healthy growth of the ovum is checked, and a morbid development ensues, to result sooner or later in death of the embryo and expulsion.

{479} The embryo in the early months of pregnancy is small as compared to the size of the sac, the membranes, liquor amnii, and navel-string; at the end of the fourth week the embryo measures from 1/3 to 1/4 of an inch in length; at the end of the eighth week, from ¾ to 1 inch: the arms and legs become visible, the umbilical vesicle, though reduced in size, still exists; the small body with large upper extremity is pendent from the short, thick navel-string. At the end of the twelfth week the embryo measures from 2 to 3 inches in length; fingers and toes can be distinctly seen; mouth and nose are also recognizable. At the end of the sixteenth week, the fourth month, the embryo measures some 4 to 5 inches in length; sex can be distinguished; the head assumes shape, but it is still immense in size, perhaps an inch in length; the features of the face are all formed. At the end of the twentieth week, the fifth month, there is no longer doubt as to sex; the nails, which were previously visible, have become distinct; the soft, woolly lanugo begins to develop; hair may be noticed upon the head; motion, inaugurated weeks before, is felt by the mother. Toward the end of the sixth month, in the twenty-fourth week, the embryo is some 12 inches in length. As has been before stated, with the cessation of the development of individual organs and parts growth in size becomes more rapid. As this was less in the earlier months, it is now very marked. With the seventh month, as the foetus becomes viable, it is some 12 to 14 inches in length, weighing 2 to 3 pounds; the body is covered with lanugo; the hair on the head becomes quite marked; the papular membrane disappears.

It is well to bear in mind the leading features in the development of the uterus, decidua, and the ovum, and more particularly its membranes, as a guide in the treatment, that we may recognize the parts expelled and know what remains to be removed--as an aid in diagnosis, that we may properly judge the conditions, whether healthy or morbid, and post-abortum, when we may be forced to determine by the corpus delicti, as the all-important evidence in criminal cases, as to the duration of pregnancy and the causes which led to its termination.

ETIOLOGY.--Causes of Abortion.--Interesting as the etiology of disease is to the inquiring mind, to the progressive physician it is of great practical importance as well; and this is eminently true of the causes leading to abortion. More so of (A) spontaneous or accidental abortion, though by no means to be neglected in (B) criminal abortion. Etiology is important in both, as it is a knowledge of cause alone which can lead to prevention, that most valuable of all methods of treatment, and in criminal abortion to detection, thus indirectly to the prevention of recurrence.

A. Accidental or Spontaneous Abortion, or Abortion as the Result of Natural Causes.--The etiology of non-criminal abortion is indispensable to the practitioner, as it is this alone which will enable him to prevent its occurrence and recurrence, thus leading to the preservation of the lives of mother and child, doing away with the danger and suffering of actual treatment, and frequently serving as a guide in the latter. We will meet with some difficulties in our endeavor to analyze these causes, as they are so varied in their nature and differ so greatly in the medium through which they act. There are causes predisposing and exciting, local and general, internal and external, and causes which depend upon father, {480} mother, and ovum. The direct dependence of treatment upon the exciting causes seems to necessitate a simple and practical delineation of the etiology of abortion. A direct reference of the cause to the offending organ is understood most readily, and will point most directly to the necessary measure of relief; hence we will consider such causes as spring from or act through mother and child--more properly, the maternal system and its individual organs on the one hand, and the ovum and its parts upon the other. We cannot, however, pass by these without giving a thought to such causes to which great importance is attached by many, and which it is best to consider separately.

Predisposing Causes.--Almost all abnormal conditions, whether pertaining to the system or external to it, are more or less predisposing causes, whilst direct exciting causes are few; they may or may not be followed by the premature interruption of gestation; they tend to death and expulsion of the ovum, making it likely to occur whenever the exciting cause arises. We may say all those by which the occurrence of abortion is favored are predisposing causes: they are conditions under which we may expect its occurrence; and, knowing them, it is the duty of the physician to guard his patient. The classification is indefinite. Thus Naegele considers as predisposing causes anæmia, congestion local and general of the maternal system, neurotic influences; and as exciting causes--1st, those which tend to sever the amnion from the surrounding uterine structures; 2d, those which cause malnutrition, disease, and death of the embryo or foetus; 3d, those which directly arouse uterine contraction. Others consider diseases acute and chronic on the part of the mother, local and general, as well as diseases on the part of the father, predisposing causes, whilst traumatism and neurotic influences are considered as exciting causes. All are classifications based upon no strict foundation. I wish, however, to call attention to certain conditions which I look upon as predisposing to abortion: that is, a pregnant woman while under the influence of such condition, such cause, is more liable to abort upon the occurrence of some directly exciting cause. The existence of one or more predisposing causes does not necessitate abortion; pregnancy may continue without interruption if exposed to any of the conditions which we will term as exciting causes.

First. Climate.--We find abortion, both accidental and criminal, prevalent in certain countries and in certain districts, dependent upon climate--in the deltas and valleys subject to malaria, upon barren soil where food is wanting or where the work of woman is particularly laborious.

Secondly. Number and character of the population: this mishap is most common in large cities, where morals are lax, where the ill-fed poor are crowded into tenement-houses and the rich live in the whirl of social dissipation, or in thickly-settled regions where there is an intermingling of sexes, where women are neglected and ill-fed. I may here add an observation which truly shows the difference of locality. Both Playfair and Philippeaux[3] claim that abortion is especially prevalent in the country. This may be true of the rural districts of England, France, and Germany, especially the latter military government, where it is in the country that young, able-bodied women do the hardest and most of the work, as is seen when passing through these regions in harvest-time. In {481} America the very opposite is true, as in the country here abortion is most rare.

[Footnote 3: _Annals Gynécologie_, 1881.]

Third. Certain periods in woman's life eminently predispose to abortion. There are those important epochs in woman's life during which her nervous system undergoes a severe strain wrought by those changes which are all-important to her existence. These are, first, in early married life, when intense hyperæsthesia exists due to changes wrought in the sexual system: the young wife is, moreover, exposed to injurious external influences, certain forms of traumatism; and secondly, toward the approach of the menopause, as the activity of sexual function and the uterine organ diminishes and the nervous system is undergoing those changes with periods of intense neurotic excitement which accompany the menopause. Finally, we may look upon the morbid conditions of the system, all unfavorable changes in the surroundings, as predisposing causes.

Exciting Causes.--We have seen that Naegele considers malnutrition and all causes which lead to separation of the ovum from its surroundings, and even uterine contractions, as exciting causes, whilst Spiegelborg considers hemorrhage so much so that to him the history of hemorrhage during gestation is the history of abortion. As exciting causes I consider uterine contractions and such conditions as directly lead to hemorrhage in the uterine or foetal membranes; but I cannot class either as exciting causes direct and primarily, both being merely sequents dependent upon some more remote cause. The varied importance of predisposing and exciting causes will be best appreciated if we but recollect the ordeals which a healthy woman may undergo--the direct exciting causes which may act upon her--and yet abortion not occur, provided no predisposing causes exist. Thus we have the well-authenticated statement of a pregnant woman being run over, the wheels of a physician's carriage passing directly over the abdomen, and yet abortion not following. I myself know of the attempts of a husband to produce abortion upon a willing wife by beating the abdomen, finally stamping and sitting down upon it, and yet not succeeding. I have the statement of a reliable physician as to the continuation of intra-uterine application of iodine and astringents to the cavity of a uterus supposed to be diseased, which proved to be pregnant, until the fourth month, and yet abortion not following. We know how women with criminal intent produce local injuries, even such as result in death, whilst the ovum remains undisturbed. These are cases in which no predisposing cause existed. On the other hand, the careless washing of the feet in cold water, a single effort at the wash-tub, a rapid drive, fright, a piece of bad news, coitus, the slightest nervous or physical disturbance, may produce abortion where predisposing cause sufficient does exist. We will here classify the exciting causes of abortion, in reference to the consequent treatment and the possibility of prevention, as maternal and foetal, dependent upon, acting by means of, the maternal system and organs or those of the ovum. Those dependent upon the mother are amenable to preventive treatment; not so those dependent upon the ovum.

A. Causes of spontaneous or non-criminal abortion:

1. Causes due to pathological changes in the maternal system, general and local. These are by far most important to the practitioner, as they {482} are amenable to treatment. His attention should most especially be directed to--

_a_. General causes acting through the system. These are--

(1) Diseases acute and chronic;

(2) Causes acting through the nervous system, neurotic;

(3) Physical or traumatic;

And (4) I shall classify what I might term social causes, such as result from custom and fashion, which form an important element in the etiology of abortion, and one more particularly open to and demanding prevention.

_b_. Local causes on the part of the uterus and its adnexa.

2. Causes on the part of the ovum.

1. Causes Maternal.--These may be general or local. General causes, arising either in the maternal system or exterior to it, but acting upon it, may be either physical or nervous, arising from diseased morbid conditions of the maternal system.

_a_. General causes acting through or resulting from changes within the maternal system.

The premature interruption of pregnancy may frequently be traced to disturbance of the maternal system or external influences which act upon it, either directly by traumatism or indirectly through the nervous system, and the uterus, hypersensitive in this state of intense physiological activity, responds. It is the point of least resistance to which the shock is conducted; as the electric current invariably passes through the best conductor in a network of wires to the point of greatest attraction, so shock follows the course of the uterine nerves, at the time most tense, and the explosion follows in that organ.

(1) Disease, acute and chronic, on the part of mother and father interferes with the nutrition and development of the ovum--on the part of the father, through the semen; on the part of the mother, by malnutrition of the growing germ.

Acute Diseases.--A vitiated condition of the blood, as well as the increase of temperature, local and general, which accompanies constitutional disturbance, affects nutrition and development of the ovum. Zymotic infectious diseases, as well as those accompanied by congestion of the pelvic viscera, are most liable to affect gestation: the excessively high temperature of the nutrient fluid and of the surrounding viscera, if not direct infection of the germ, leads to death of the embryo and consequent abortion in the course of zymotic disease. The localization of the morbid affection in the vicinity of the uterus affects the existence of the embryo by reason of the consequent congestion and irritation, as well as by depletion of the system, as in dysentery; direct infection, as in variola or scarlatina. This delicate existence is threatened in various ways by traumatic injury, as may occur in eclampsia. Fortunately, abortion in the course of disease is not the rule, but the exception, and usually accompanies morbid conditions of the system only if most intense or if predisposing causes exist; yet gestation is at all periods endangered by intercurrent disease in the early as well as the later stages. It is in the later stages only that the existence of direct infection can be determined, and, though perhaps not common, well-authenticated cases are recorded: I have myself delivered a mother, just recovering from a severe case of {483} variola, of a seventh-month foetus covered with a typical eruption. That abortion occurs in the course of malarial fever is well known in the valleys and deltas of our great rivers, and it has been most erroneously ascribed by some to the energetic medication which is called for. If the disease attacks pregnant women, its continuance, but not the medication, may lead to abortion: it is not quinine given upon correct indications--it is the existing disease--which causes the accident, and must hence be checked as speedily as possible; it is the uterus which shelters the developing ovum, congested, hyperæsthetic, which is at the time the centre of physiological activity, and, we may say, the most sensitive portion of the body, most easily affected by an accidentally existing disease, as the non-pregnant woman, one more sensitive or feeble, always suffers most during an accidentally existing disease in that organ which is habitually most sensitive or weak or at the time under an unusual strain; if throat, lungs, or heart is weakened, it is that part which suffers most in the acme of malarial fever; if a woman is exposed to cold during the menstrual period, the pelvic viscera will respond most readily.

Chronic diseases affect growth and development of the ovum by reason of malnutrition, local and general anæmia. As has before been stated, the impregnation of even a healthy ovule by diseased semen or the semen of a diseased father may result in morbid development, which sooner or later ends in expulsion of the affected ovum. Of the diseases on the part of the father it is more especially--and I may say almost alone--syphilis which exerts a direct influence upon the ovum. Debility of the system is more likely to result in sterility, whilst the ovum, if impregnation takes place by such semen, remains healthy though feeble, and the traces are indelibly marked upon the offspring. The use of liquor, like the morphine habit, may lead to sterility, but not to abortion; though the offspring of a phthisical father rarely escapes, the disease is inherited, but does not develop during the early stages of gestation, and does not affect the ovum in its growth.

Chronic diseases on the part of the mother would seem as if readily leading to abortion, though the result is comparatively a rare one. The diseased, badly-nourished, often anæmic system offers an unfavorable nidus for the rapidly-developing ovum, which is so much in need of healthy and abundant nutrition; but as the feeble, sickly mother often has an abundance of healthy milk for the new-born child, a healthy physiological activity seeming to exist in those parts in the time of functional activity, so may the ovum find a sufficiency whilst other parts are affected. The intense activity existing in the uterus attracts an abundance of the circulating fluid; women low with chronic diseases, phthisis, or cancerous growths, often in the last stages, will bear children, yet they are fortunately not so free to conceive, and if impregnation does occur the healthy growth of the ovum is soon interrupted.

The causes which lead to an enfeebled condition of the system may lead to abortion, whether it be an anæmia, the result of disease or lack of food, of the mode of life, or the locality in which the sufferer lives--of poisonous gases or poisons of other kinds slowly admitted to the system. These poisons, however, whether acute or chronic in the mother, may directly affect the foetus. Lead and noxious gases, like the infection of variola or smallpox, are examples of the latter; more rapidly-acting {484} poisons, like strychnia, opium, carbonic oxide gas, and syphilis, of the former.

Death of the foetus and abortion may result as a consequence of syphilis on the part of either father or mother, or of primary infection during gestation, and are liable to occur at the same period in successive pregnancies; if in the later stages of gestation, the ovum, especially the foetus, bears its characteristic marks. The effects of treatment and improvement are readily visible: abortion is more and more delayed; if the afflicted parent but slowly improves, abortion will occur at a later period during each subsequent gestation until a foetus is carried to term, but stillborn--the next living, perhaps, for a brief period. If vigorous treatment be applied in the early stages, abortion may cease altogether. The results of disease can be more readily seen in the foetus than in other parts of the ovum. The gummata of the placenta, the syphilitic indurations, are difficult to distinguish from other conditions, and appear only at later stages. The syphilitic pemphigus, when occurring upon the foetus, is characteristic, but the mucous membranes are most liable to show its traces. The gummata in the large viscera are frequent, especially in the lungs and liver; but most typical is the osteo-myelitis in the long bones, between epiphysis and diaphysis, a pale-red line in the earlier stages, resulting in a thickening of the parts at later periods.

(2) Causes acting through the Nervous System.--During pregnancy, that stage of intense uterine activity, of gestation and increased growth, we find an increased nervous excitability, motor and vaso-motor, the nerves responding violently to slight causes which would arouse no reaction during the normal condition. There is an increased reflex activity which may lead to a disturbance in the circulation or in the nutrition of the ovum, or to uterine contraction upon some slight excitement. This condition varies exceedingly, the causes which excite these reactions and the extent of the reaction excited differing greatly in degree. Uterine hemorrhage, contractions, and expulsion of the ovum in consequence of neurotic influences are more likely by far to occur during the existence of predisposing causes. Fright, a nervous shock of any kind which in no way affects healthy gestation in a healthy woman, will result in abortion in a person afflicted with uterine disease or in a system otherwise weakened.

The frequent occurrence of abortion in early married life and toward the menopause is mainly referable to nervous influences. Marriage is a period in woman's life comparable to puberty and the menopause--a period of heightened nervous excitability: a change takes place in all the modes of life, and, in addition to the many other causes which at that time unite to interfere with conception, increased nervous excitability is one of the most important, as it is toward the climacterium. We shall consider this period more particularly under the head of Social Causes. As the change of life is approached, the activity of the sexual organs, their nutrition, the blood-supply, and especially the healthy activity of the mucous membrane, are lessened, and hence the growth of the ovum is endangered; but the condition of the nervous system at this period certainly has an equally powerful influence in producing the tendency to abortion. During this hyperæsthesia an existing predisposing cause or some slight additional excitement will arouse the vigorous action of the tensely-strung {485} vaso-motor nerves; coitus even at these periods may be looked upon as dangerous to continued gestation. It is not alone the traumatic influences which must be considered, but the effect upon the nervous system as well, especially the vaso-motor nerves, in the state of intense excitement which accompanies the sexual orgasm. During these periods of increased nervous tension during pregnancy coition is more liable to produce abortion than at other times. It is in the coming together of numerous causes that one more intense than the others, though harmless alone, will be followed by sudden response.

Much has been said as to the injurious effect of coition during pregnancy. Those who look to physical causes as mainly tending to abortion claim the injurious effect to be purely physical, traumatic; whilst others, and I believe more justly, claim that the influence is strictly neurotic. Parvin says that coition is so frequent a cause that he blames upon this half the cases which are termed spontaneous abortions; certainly it has a most unfortunate effect, so that we frequently see the expulsion of a healthy ovum from the second to the fourth month in young women recently married, mainly in the higher walks of life and among delicately organized women, who are more intensely sensitive to the great change which they have undergone. I have repeatedly had occasion to see these unfortunate cases, and almost look for the occurrence of an abortion within the first six or eight months after marriage in the bride of fashionable society. Though the statement of Parvin may seem somewhat forcible, the fact is not to be ignored: the ovum expelled in such an abortion gives evidence of being of healthy growth, so that the cause must not be sought for in malnutrition or local disease. The laws of many peoples are as strict in regard to coition during pregnancy as they are about the care of menstruating women: by some it is forbidden; among the ancient Mexicans it was regulated, it being ordained that sexual intercourse should be exercised to a moderate extent during pregnancy in order that the healthy development might be furthered and strength given to the child. The injurious effect of coition is everywhere acknowledged, and, I can say, not unjustly. Total abstinence was looked upon by the Mexicans and other peoples as likewise harmful.

The changes wrought in the nervous and physical condition of women after marriage and toward the menopause are such that the menstrual periodicity is interfered with, dysmenorrhoea sometimes existing, at times menorrhagia, so that the expulsion of an ovum of from eight to ten weeks is ignored, passing away with the clots of a profuse menstrual flow: it is often not even known to the mother, being considered by herself and family as merely a profuse flow; the accompanying pains are often no greater than those of the dysmenorrhoea common at such times; no precautious are taken, and thus the foundation is often laid for uterine disease.

We know that the emotions--fright, fear, joy--may check the menstrual flow or produce menorrhagia; in the gravid uterus hemorrhage may be caused or contractions aroused, and abortion results. In a misled girl or a young married woman the fear of pregnancy may frequently cause cessation of the menstrual flow: the effect of the mind and nervous system upon these organs is equally evident in the cessation of the menses when pregnancy is longed for, though it does not exist: I have even {486} known of the summoning of midwife and physician by an aged bride with distended abdomen (gastric hystero-neurosis) who longed for pregnancy and thought she felt uterine contraction and the inauguration of labor. As the emotions affect the general health, the ovum may likewise suffer as a part of the maternal system; but when they are sudden, such as by fright or shock, the effect upon the vaso-motor centres by reflex action is so forcible that the uterine vessels are paralyzed, dilated, and hemorrhage follows; or a tetanic contraction of the vessels may result, and then the nutrition of the embryo is checked.

The evil effect of nursing during pregnancy is due in part to the withdrawal of nutrition from the ovum, but in part to the contraction of the uterus and its vessels, which may result as a reflex symptom from the irritation of the nipples, and thus cause abortion. The frequent occurrence of abortion upon ships at sea is due in part to traumatic influence, the vomiting of sea-sickness; in part it is neurotic, due to the changed mode of life, the leaving of a home by the emigrant for foreign lands, just as the menstrual flow is stopped for months and months in the immigrant girl upon her first arrival in a strange country.

(3) Traumatic influences are comparatively rare as a cause of natural spontaneous abortion; and it is true of these as of every other cause that it depends upon existing conditions whether abortion will result or not. The pounding of the belly is an ordinary method of producing abortion among primitive peoples: a fall, a jump from a wagon, may disturb the progress of gestation, while traumatism far more violent may not affect it, as in the case of the woman in the later months of pregnancy over whose abdomen the wheels of a physician's carriage passed without causing any injury whatever.

In the earlier months, while the ovum is still sheltered in the pelvic cavity, injuries are still less liable to cause abortion. I have myself seen a pregnant woman severely bruised about the lower bowels and go to term. I have been told by reliable physicians that local treatment of uterine disease has been continued by reason of the non-cessation of the menses to the third and fourth month, when pregnancy was discovered, and yet abortion did not follow, though I regret to say that quite a number of cases have come to my knowledge where the treatment of supposed uterine disease, especially of uterine tumor--pregnancy in fact--was suddenly terminated by the appearance of the corpus delicti, a four or five months' embryo. The intensity of the resistance is well illustrated in a case which it was my good fortune to see in consultation, where the most brutal local treatment had been resorted to for three or four months and abortion did not occur; the patient had left her persecutor and travelled hundreds of miles to seek treatment. The manipulations had been so violent as to produce metritis and cellulitis, yet the growth of the ovum continued, as demonstrated by the healthy foetus of five months which was at last expelled. I have but recently examined a lady who has been treated locally for uterine disease, and found her in the beginning of the third month of pregnancy, so far undisturbed.

We may well place the uterine sound and applicator among the traumatic causes. The physician himself, especially the gynecologist, has been sought out by women to aid in relieving them from the product of conception, and it is through sound or applicator that {487} he is expected to accomplish the work. Among the many devices to which women--and, I am sorry to say, those in the most fortunate circumstances, in the best walks of life--resort to attain this end is one which certainly shows knowledge and shrewd calculation, but most villainous intent, which is not unfrequently practised, and against which it is well for the physician to be on his guard. It is that of forcing the attendant to uterine examination and treatment upon the plea of disease, well knowing that the germ must thus be destroyed. The woman calls upon a physician--in preference upon some specialist not attending in her family--upon the plea of uterine suffering, well knowing, either from personal experience or the gossip so common among ladies, some of the more common symptoms of this disease--backache, pains in the side, nervousness, weakness, menstrual suffering. She relates her case; upon questioning states that the period is just passed; and, though the examination may reveal nothing, though no application may be made, she well knows the uterine sound will be used. That is what she desires. If an application of iodine or nitrate of silver follows, all the better. Though for reasons far more important the physician should listen to the history of a patient with distrust, and rely must thoroughly upon his own examination, this course is especially indicated in gynecological cases without distinct sign of disease; and these very cases again point to the importance of a careful bimanual examination, and a resort to all other methods before the sound is used; and that in case of an enlargement of the uterus, discoloration of the cervix and vagina, we should under no circumstances introduce an instrument into the cavity unless it is established with absolute certainty that the congestion and increased size are due to pathological and not physiological causes.

Social Causes.--I wish to call attention more particularly to some of the abuses of modern life which not unfrequently interfere with gestation. These exist among all classes of society, high and low: among the poor they are unfortunately forced; among the wealthy they are the result of devotion to fashion and society. As we have seen that in the Old World abortion is common in the rural districts, it is an evidence of hard labor, especially in the field, at the wash-tub, and labor by which the abdomen is compressed, the abdominal muscles freely exercised. It is not only physical labor, but exposure to cold and wet, cold feet, which are to blame; in those more fortunately situated tight lacing, dancing, and consequent colds have a like injurious influence.

I would again allude to the newly-married, who are so subject to the lighter forms of traumatism, the always greater frequency of coition, the congestion and mechanical insult, the bridal trip being especially injurious. During this period of hyperæsthesia it is too great a strain upon the body as well as upon the nervous system: the young husband, unacquainted with woman's strength and needs, is always liable to judge her powers by his own. Railroad travel, the fatigues of sight-seeing, pleasures, theatre, and the dance, are all borne by the patient bride, anxious to please the groom: upon returning home the cares of the new house, excessive social duties, all combine to undermine the strength of a delicate woman in her first gestation. Enfeebled, often depressed by reason of gestation or nervous changes, excessive pleasures are forced upon her by reason of her condition--_i.e._ bride--and abortion follows; and, we {488} may say, follows in consequence of traumatism. In other walks of life we find other conditions, still with the same unfortunate developments--excessive labor and pleasure during this period, when rest and care are so necessary. It is in young married women partly the pleasures of society, partly the unaccustomed duties imposed, which lead to injury. Ignorant of their condition, ignorant of the care necessary, even when aware of injury unwilling to acknowledge it, desiring to bear up, to show no weakness, they lay the foundation of much future suffering. The cause of so much uterine and pelvic disease in the unmarried, in the society girl, exists to the same extent in the newly-married, only that the injuries caused are far greater in the first period of married life, as the strain both of body and mind is increased in this most susceptible condition.

Local Causes.--Though the local causes on the part of the mother which lead to abortion, diseases of the uterus, especially of its mucous membrane, are equally frequent and equally amenable to treatment, they are of less practical interest to the general practitioner. Diseases of the uterus itself are not so important etiologically as those of its lining membrane: uterine tumors, unless of enormous size, usually admit of the completion of gestation; flexions and versions rarely interfere with the development of the ovum; a prolapsed uterus may bear the foetus to term unless the adhesions are unyielding and impregnation is impossible, because the uterus as it develops with the growth of the ovum rises beyond the confines of the pelvic cavity, and the displacement is thus remedied. Anteflexions and anteversions are always rectified; retroversions in rare cases only lead to abortion; adherent retroflexions are most to be dreaded; when the uterine body, bound down to the pelvic floor, expands within the cavity to such a size as to make escape through the brim impossible, abortion must necessarily follow. Deep lacerations of the cervix make conception improbable and interfere with gestation; cervical catarrh in no way affects its progress. Those morbid conditions of the uterine tissues which are unaccompanied by disease of its mucous membrane rarely lead to abortion.

Uterine contractions due to reflex nervous excitability are perhaps the most common of all these causes, yet here the uterus primarily is not at fault. A state of intense excitability is very often due to general causes, to intense febrile action, to congestion or anæmia; high or low temperature, whether due to external or internal causes, and irritation of the surrounding parts,--all of which conditions tend to increased contractility. Such diseases of the uterus as cause induration of the walls may lead to abortion, like the incarceration of the organ in the pelvic cavity, by reason of prevented distension.

Uterine Mucosa, Decidua.--Of far greater consequence than the conditions existing in the muscular tissue of the uterine wall upon the vitality and development of the ovum are those of the uterine mucosa in its state of physiological hypertrophy as the decidua of pregnancy. This soft, succulent tissue, rich in lymphatics and blood-vessels, is the nidus in which the ovum rests, its immediate protecting shelter, and the source from which nutrition is derived; hence morbid changes of this structure react promptly and forcibly upon the ovum--most so in the earliest stages, when it is altogether dependent upon this structure; less so as gestation progresses. As the ovum grows it becomes more resistant, its {489} tissues more dense, and the source of nourishment is gradually changed to the large uterine sinuses at the placental site. Moreover, the decidua after the third and fourth month, when it has served its term, performed its function, gradually diminishes in thickness, until toward term retrograde metamorphosis is initiated preparatory to the expulsion of this structure, at that time merely forming a line of demarcation in the lax meshwork in its lower layer between the healthy tissue which remains and those structures which are passed off in labor. An inactivity of the mucous membrane, an imperfect development of the deciduous structure due to disease of the mucosa, is a frequent source of abortion. In chronic disease of the uterus or its lining membrane this rapid and healthy development of the decidua after conception is prevented, the delicate membranes of the ovum do not absorb the necessary nutrition, the development of the embryo is checked, morbid conditions of the ovum follow, and abortion results, especially at that time of active development, the period of placental formation. The decidua vera is the least important part of this structure, serving nutritive purposes only in the very first weeks at the site of placental formation, and sheltering the delicate ovum in the nest formed by its soft tissue: it is the decidua serotina, and especially that membrane which holds the ovum in place, the decidua reflexa, which claims attention. But morbid conditions of the vera, the greater part of the mucous membrane, are naturally accompanied by imperfect development of serotina and reflexa, and hence the imperfect imbedding and nutrition of the ovum.

Hypertrophy or excessive morbid development of the decidua may accompany acute infectious diseases, as we find similar conditions in other organs of the body, especially in the larger viscera. These changes, morbid in their character, interfere with development as do the atrophic forms. These hypertrophies may, however, exist independent in their nature, due to local disease of the uterus and its parts, as in chronic endometritis, where in place of the succulent deciduous structure we find an induration and a proliferation of the active tissue usually throughout the entire membrane, rarely localized, of a polypoid form: the chronic catarrhal affections are accompanied by an increase of secretion, morbid in character, which is liable to interfere with the development of the germ. Moreover, hemorrhage more readily occurs under these pathological conditions, usually secondary in character, brought about by minor insults, trivial causes, which would not affect healthy tissues. These hemorrhages, all-important in the early stages, affect development less and less as gestation advances, the importance of the decidua lessening and its functions being superseded. Where a slight extravasation of blood within the deciduous structure may lead to separation and expulsion of the ovum in the first and second months, larger hemorrhages are often without consequence when occurring within the same tissues in the fifth or sixth.

2. The Ovum.--Pathological changes of the ovum itself, of the embryo, of the surrounding membranes are less frequent as primary causes of abortion, and they are of less importance to the practitioner as being in no way amenable to treatment. When they do occur they usually lead to expulsion in the earlier months.

Those conditions liable to lead to abortion are especially diseases of the {490} chorion, placenta, and umbilical cord, rarely of the amnion, the embryo itself, or the amniotic fluid.

Chorion and Placenta.--The chorion being the nutritive organ, supplying the means of communication between mother and child in the earlier stages by the villi over its entire surface, later by the placenta, must necessarily determine the progress or cessation of foetal development by the conditions existing within its own tissues. One of the most striking and notable changes to which it is subject is the hydatiform degeneration of the villi, leading to a formation of the grape mole or hydatiform mole. This is a cystic degeneration of the terminal sprouts, an hypertrophy of the germinal tissue, the young connective-tissue cells, which usually begins at a very early stage: the vascular development is interfered with, the nutritive material is directed to the morbid activity of the chorion, which in its exuberant growth, usually inaugurated in the first weeks, destroys that of the other structures; the delicate tissues of the embryo are soon absorbed, and even the amniotic sac may disappear, the within-lying cavity, which always remains in every malformation as an unmistakable trace of the ovum--a characteristic which serves at once to mark the product of conception. A mole of this kind usually attains the size of an apple, but may grow to that of a child's head, and the period to which it is carried is much longer than that of the mola carnosa--usually five to seven months, sometimes eight or ten. The appearance is that of a conglomeration of cysts, usually the size of a currant or gooseberry, though they are often from that of a pinhead upward, connected everywhere by thin connective-tissue strands; they consist of a delicate transparent membrane enclosing a pale, colorless fluid: in the earlier stages the amnion with its cavity remains, but with the development of the growth that is destroyed, and the appearance of the hydatiform mole as a product of conception even becomes unrecognizable when no longer surrounded by the decidua; as in cases of excessive development, the morbidly-enlarged villi may even break through the decidua vera in their growth, and we find a dense mass consisting of a conglomerate of small cysts united by connective-tissue shreds enclosed in the cavity of the uterus.

Hemorrhage.--In the third or fourth month, at the time of most active development of the villi at the placental site, primary hemorrhage may occur, due to the active vascular development, and thus lead to abortion, but this is rare; frequent as hemorrhage is, it is almost invariably to be traced to some cause.

The Placenta.--In later stages, when the greater part of the chorion appears as a more firm, non-vascular membrane, that part which in connection with the decidua serotina is developed to the placental formation is the most vulnerable point, as it is the connecting link between the foetus and the maternal tissues, and the one source of nutrition. Hemorrhage in this structure, whether in its maternal or foetal portion, if excessive, must lead to a cessation of development, to abortion. Slight hemorrhages, such as must have proved fatal in the earlier stages, no longer interfere with the growth of the ovum, but are absorbed or remain as small hemorrhagic spots, the tufts or cotyledons in which they have occurred appearing as a hard whitish mass of connective tissue. If the hemorrhage is more profuse or widespread, it may lead to abortion directly or to inanition--to death of the foetus, and secondarily to {491} abortion. Inflammation may occur throughout the entire placental site or localized, as in all other points in the connective tissue of the structure, accompanied by vascular development in the first place, followed by induration and shrinkage; frequently remaining as small irregular or conical indurations between the villi or cotyledons, leading to abortion, either by the tendency to hemorrhage thereby excited or the death of the foetus if sufficient of the tissue is destroyed to cause inanition.

Fatty degeneration occasionally results in consequence of insufficient nutrition due to hemorrhage, or after death of the foetus preparatory to premature expulsion--a morbid approximation to the condition upon its maternal surface and in the decidua serotina at term.

Syphilis.--The changes in the chorion and placental tissue accompanying syphilitic disease are rarely the direct cause of abortion or premature expulsion of the ovum; as a rule, they are mere local manifestations of the morbid condition existing in all the foetal structures, and frequently in those of the mother. In the early months, during the period of the chorion frondosum, abortion results from insufficiency of the nutriment absorbed by the indurated villi of the chorion, lacking in vascularity and in succulent embryonic tissue; the structures are more dense, the villi hypertrophied, in the more aggravated cases the vessels entirely obliterated, whilst after the formation of the placenta in later months the existence of syphilis is made evident by appearances similar to those which accompany other chronic inflammatory conditions. The appearance presented by a syphilitic placenta is usually that of cellular hypertrophy, the centre in a state of whitish induration or fatty degeneration according to the stage of the disease. But it is hardly possible to diagnose syphilis with certainty from the appearance of the placenta alone, nor is the placenta usually affected to such an extent as to appear as the prime cause of foetal death. The placenta is usually large as compared to the size of the child, in appearance similar to other inflammatory conditions presented by the placenta, the growth of the foetus being interfered with, whilst that of the placental structure continues until the retrograde metamorphosis is sufficient to result in expulsion. The placenta in a syphilitic foetus is larger than ordinary, 1 to 4, whilst usually 1 to 6. Gummata are rare, so also tumors of the placenta. A myxoma developing from the embryonic tissue is occasionally found. If the foetal portion of the placenta alone is affected, or in the earlier stages the chorion and the decidua healthy, we may with safety infer syphilis on the part of the father alone previous to impregnation.

The Amnion.--The amnion, which serves merely as a container for the preserving fluid, is wanting in vascularity, and consequently but little subject to morbid changes. The only pathological condition which we find in this structure is an inflammatory development, the formation of amniotic bands stretching across this delicate sheath or from some portion of it to the foetus, crippling or cutting its membranes in such a way as to interfere with gestation. Nor does an abundance or want of amniotic fluid affect the development of the embryo or ovum during the earlier stages. It is no more a cause of abortion than the slight changes occasionally found in the amnion itself.

The Umbilical Cord.--The navel-string, however--the sheath stretching from amnion to foetus, enclosing the umbilical vessels--is subject to quite {492} a number of changes, frequently the cause of abortion, occasionally mere results of other complications. Excessive or insufficient length of the cord, which may seriously complicate labor at term, in no way affects the development of the ovum; in the third or fourth month the length of the cord is naturally much greater than that of the embryo, and the resulting coils and knots seem in no way to endanger its existence. Knotting of the navel-string may lead to death of the foetus, but only in the last months, rarely at earlier periods. Stenosis of one or the other of the vessels sometimes occurs, leading to the death of the embryo and consequent abortion: a condition which I have found remarkably frequent is that of torsion of a very long and thin cord in the third and fourth months; but this torsion of the cord seems so frequent in abortion that it must appear as a consequence, movement of the dead foetus apparently leading to a twisting during inactivity of the tissue. A very striking condition of the cord has frequently attracted my attention--lack of embryonic tissue, the gelatin of Wharton, with excessive torsion; the cord flat, thin, in parts thread-like, and usually very much twisted; the embryo retarded in development as compared to the size of the ovum, no other cause being at the same time discernible, neither disease of the uterus nor affection of the system. The torsion is secondary, often wanting, the cord being very thin and thread-like in places, consisting of the amniotic sheath and the vessels, obliterated entirely or in part. Torsion I believe to be secondary, as I have noticed these excessively twisted cords otherwise healthy in cases of abortion; but this peculiar state, which I cannot term otherwise than atrophy of the cord, appears as a frequent primary cause of abortion in the second to the fourth month; torsion and knots may occur at later periods. Ruge of Berlin,[4] who has investigated this subject, thinks that stenosis of the cord in the vicinity of the umbilical insertion is rarely the primary cause of abortion, though often a secondary, resulting from motion and traction on the inactive, dead vessels; whilst Leopold seems to look upon it as the primary cause.

[Footnote 4: _Zeitschrift für Gynäcol. u. Geburtsh._, vol. i. 1, p. 57.]

I have endeavored to call attention to the various conditions which may lead to abortion, but it is almost impossible to place an estimate upon their relative importance. Whilst uterine contractions, hemorrhage, and abortion may result in one case from a slight nervous excitement, a trifling annoyance, the most violent nervous irritation will in no way affect another; whilst a fall, a jump from a buggy, may lead to a mishap in one patient, the crushing of the abdomen beneath its wheels will not affect another; a trifling fever may appear as the cause in one, and again the most severe pneumonia or typhoid condition will not impair development in another; the child may be carried to term by a mother in the last stages of consumption, whilst a very trifling affection may lead to abortion at other times. So it is with remedies taken internally, though as a rule they have but little effect: a violent aperient may cause abortion, and again, as in one instance which I recall, a woman in the fourth month of pregnancy died rapidly of dysentery resulting from the taking of cathartic pills to produce abortion, and the post-mortem revealed a perfectly healthy ovum in a healthy uterus, whilst the dysentery consequent upon the remedy killed the mother. The careful introduction of a sound into the gravid uterus has led to a separation of the ovum, to hemorrhage, {493} and to abortion, whilst a knitting-needle has been passed into the uterine cavity and through the womb, causing the death of the criminal mother, without in any way disturbing the ovum. The uterus has been regularly treated for supposed disease for three and five months by internal applications, and gestation has progressed. So it is with all these cases: at one time, especially with pre-existing disposition, a slight interference may result in the cessation of development, and at another the most violent insults in no way disturb gestation.

B. Causes of Criminal Abortion.--The causes proper of criminal abortion are immorality among all classes, high and low--among the wealthy fashion, the pleasures of society, and the desire to limit the number of children--a common cause, strange to say, mostly among those very people who can actually afford the expense. The cause direct, the means by which the crime is accomplished, should be known to the practitioner in order that he may detect the deception which is so frequently practised upon him--that he may prevent it if possible, and at least not, by reason of ignorance, be made particeps criminis.

The means resorted to are either external or internal, traumatic and instrumental, or by medication.

Traumatic.--When produced by the patient herself it is either by violent exercise, running up and down stairs, walking and dancing, occasionally by pressure upon the abdomen or by the use of the knitting-needle, catheter, or similar instrument. The more expert or daring only attempt to enter the uterine cavity, as the organ itself may be pierced; if the catheter is successfully introduced, the attachment of the ovum is severed, and with the knitting-needle the sac is punctured.