Clinical lectures on diseases peculiar to women / by Lombe Atthill.

  • Lombe Atthill
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical lectures on diseases peculiar to women / by Lombe Atthill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    112/366 (page 90)
    DISEASES OP WOME2T. internum was so rigid that it prevented the sea-tangle ex- panding as freely at that point as it did in the cavity of the uterus and in the cervical canal; the pieces of tangle being thus constricted in the middle, it was necessary to press the index finger of the left hand firmly against the lip of the os uteri, while, with a pair of long forceps held in the right hand, one piece was seized and slowly extracted. These are the cases in which, as just mentioned, the whole extent of the canal is not equally dilated; then fresh pieces of the tangle must be introduced and time given to allow of their expan- sion before proceeding to explore the interior of the uterus. You will, however, from time to time, meet with cases in which, although the sea-tangle has expanded to its fullest extent, still from the size of the tumour, or some other cause, the os internum is not as large as you would desire. Under such circumstances I usually complete the process by the introduction of one of Dr. Barnes' dilators. These are India- rubber bags of a somewhat hour-glass, or rather fiddle shape. They are made of three different sizes. One end terminates in a long slender tube, the extremity of which is furnished with a stop-cock. The dilator is introduced in'a flaccid state into the uterus on the point of a staff or sound, or held and compressed between the blades of a pair of long slender forceps, the terminal bulging part being carried by them through the os internum; water is then to be gradually forced in through the tube just alluded to, and the dilator left in for an hour or two; by that time it will generally be found to have distended the canal to a considerable extent. The peculiar shape of the dilator prevents it, when once it has been distended, from slipping out of the uterus. Dr. Barnes originally introduced these bags into practice for the purpose of dilating the os uteri in cases in which it was desirable to induce premature labour, a purpose which they