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The principles of midwifery; including the diseases of women and children
The principles of midwifery including the diseases of women and children Author:John Burns Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: In all cases of separation, when the patient has recovered so far as to be able to move, the use of the cold bath accelerates the cure; the general health is to ... more »be carefully attended to, and any urgent symptom intervening, is to be obviated by suitable remedies. CHAP. III. Of the soft Parts which line the Pelvis. SECTION FIRST. Various strong and large muscles, pass from the spine and pelvis to the thigh bones, and act as powerful bands, strengthening, in a very great degree, the articulations of the pelvis. These it is not requisite to describe, but it will be useful, briefly to notice the soft parts which line the pelvis, and which may be acted on by the child's head during labour. 1st. When we remove the peritoneum and fascia from the cavity of the pelvis, we first of all are led to observe, that all the under portion of the os innominatum, and part of the sacrum, are covered with a layer of muscular fibres, which arises a little below the brim 01 the pelvis, and can be traced all the way down to the extremity of the rectum. This is the levator ani; it is a strong muscle, with many glossy tendinous fibres, especially at the fore part, where it lines the ossa pubis. It does not arise, in general, from the very front of the pubis, but only from the outer part, of the smooth portion of the bones, lying between the symphysis, and the margin of the thyroid aperture. It continues its origin from a tendinous line which traverses the obturator internus, all the way back to the spine of the ischium. Its fibres tend toward the perineum and anus, so that the muscle closes up partially the outlet of the pelvis, not however like a funnel, to which it has been compared, for it is incomplete both before and behind, and is rather like two hands coming down from within, one on each...« less