wise be confined-with great comfort to themselves, and need no medicine at all.

In conclusion, be it remembered that if the bowels have been confined several days, and diarrhoea comes on, this is not a natural relief, but the effect of irritation, caused by the presence of a loaded state of the lower bowel, which must be quickly removed by the medical attendant, or it may give rise to some one of those serious evils already enumerated.

Sect. 4.-Diarrhoea.

An affection, the very opposite to that which has just been discussed, may occur during pregnancy. We have seen how diarrhoea may arise as a symptom of costiveness. It will manifest itself, however, inde

pendently of such a cause. The intestines may participate in the irritability of the womb; and their vermicular action becoming morbidly increased, diarrhoea is the consequence. It is a disease which varies very much in different individuals, and may clearly be divided into two kinds :

One, in which the motions are more loose and frequent than in health, but not otherwise much altered in their appearance. The tongue is clean or only slightly white, and the appetite is pretty good. No medicine is required here; a careful diet will correct the evil.

In the other case, the stools are liquid, dark coloured, and very offensive, accompanied with a coated tongue, bad taste, offensive breath, loss of appetite, and more or less disorder of the digestive organs. In these latter circumstances I have found, at first, the following dranght, given every three or four hours,

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very useful:-Rhubarb, eight grains; ipecacuanha, one grain; dill-water, one ounce. As the tongue cleans, and the stools become more natural, a wineglass, three times a day, of some bitter infusion, such as cascarilla, orange-peel, or gentian, may be taken with advantage. If the diarrhoea continue for any length of time, it is always wise to have the surface of the body kept warm with flannel; and this is best accomplished by a flannel roller bound gently round the abdomen.

But in either form of this disease, whatever remedies are proposed, there is one mode of treatment applicable to both, and which is the most important of all—a proper system of diet. The food must be sparing in quantity, of the mildest quality, and such as to leave, after the process of digestion, as little excrementitious matter as possible.

In a recent attack, the first day, the patient should only take mild drinks containing a small quantity of unirritating nutriment, such as barley-water, or arrowroot made with water. During the next day or two their quantity and strength may be increased, and tapioca, sago, and rice-gruel added. When the irritation is somewhat allayed, on the third or fourth day perhaps, broth may be taken; but not solid food of any kind, least of all solid animal food, until the disease is removed. As soon as this is the case, a small quantity of the lightest animal food should be allowed chicken, with well-boiled rice, or game ; then roast mutton and beef-lamb and veal, for the future, being avoided

It may be observed, that in some cases, where the diarrhoea has been of long standing, a drier diet is best, the liquid food appearing to keep up the disease. Rice

well boiled, and merely moistened with a little broth, is the best, and one of the most desirable articles of diet in such cases.

Sect. 5.-Palpitation of the Heart.

This is an affection so common and well known that it is unnecessary to describe it. If it occur for the first time during pregnancy, it is rarely connected with disease of the heart itself; it is therefore without danger, although a very distressing symptom. Occasionally there is connected with it throbbing of the vessels in the temples, as also in the abdomen, the latter not unfrequently mistaken by the patient for the beatings of the heart itself.

It will make its attack frequently in the course of a day, particularly after a meal, and very frequently at night, on first lying down in bed; and it may be brought on at any time by the slightest agitation of the mind.

Treatment of an Attack.-When it comes on, if it be severe, the following draught may be taken :-Compound spirits of ammonia, half a teaspoonful; camphor mixture, a wine-glass. This may be repeated again in an hour or so, if necessary. It will be well to keep a bottle of this mixture in the bedroom; a resource will always be then at hand, and the dread which attends anticipation in a great measure removed. This is the more necessary, as an attack, if it comes on in the night, is always very distressing. The patient awakes, perhaps out of a frightful dream, with a sense of fluttering in the region of the heart-calls out for breath, begs to have the curtains of the bed withdrawn, the door of the room opened and will tell you she feels

as if she was dying. Wine, brandy, any stimulant that is at hand, is resorted to; for the husband or friend of the patient is naturally much excited, and in his alarm scarcely knows how to act. But there is no occasion for alarm; the sufferer must be assured of this; her mind must be soothed and quieted; the palpitation will after a little time cease, and the patient will drop off into a quiet and tranquil sleep. Above all avoid stimulants; they only tend to prolong the attack, and to increase the feeling of weariness which generally succeeds it.

These attacks may be prevented by taking, for ten days or a fortnight, a tea-spoonful of the following electuary, three times a day:-Carbonate of iron, one ounce and a half; syrup of ginger one ounce and a half. The bowels must be carefully regulated; a wineglass of baume-de-vie is the best aperient, provided there are no piles. Fatigue and all exertion must be avoided, and the mind kept perfectly tranquil.

Sect. 6.-Fainting Fits.

Fainting may occur at any period of pregnancy, but is most frequent during the first three months, and especially about the time of quickening.

It may come on when the person is at perfect rest; but it is ordinarily produced by more than usual exertion, exposure to heat, impure atmosphere, or any sudden excitement of the mind.

The paroxysm or fit is sometimes of short duration, and the individual does not lose her recollection—she has a knowledge of what is going on about her, and soon recovers; but in other instances the fainting fit is complete, and of long duration, continuing for an hour or upwards.

The Treatment during a Fit.-This consists in immediately placing the patient in the recumbent posture, the use of pungent volatiles, sprinkling the face with cold water, free exposure to air, and the cautious administration of cordials. And if the fit continue long, the extremities must be kept warm, and the friction of a warm hand be applied to the feet. It is scarcely necessary to add, that those who are subject to these attacks ought to avoid fatigue, crowded or hot rooms, fasting too long, tight lacing, quick motion, and agitation of mind. The bowels must be strictly attended to; and a wine-glass of the infusion of calumba or cascarilla, taken every morning, will be useful in giving tone to the system.

After a few weeks the disposition to fainting will altogether subside.

Sect. 7.-Piles.

Pregnant women are very subject to piles. They are frequently connected both with costiveness and diarrhoea, but particularly with the former. They will usually disappear, if slight, as soon as the bowels. are restored to healthy action; but they may not, and then will give rise to great suffering.

They are sometimes occasioned in the early part of pregnancy by the pressure of the enlarged womb, and are cured spontaneously in such a case about the period of quickening, by the rising of the womb into the abdomen, which necessarily removes this pressure.

The pregnant woman recognises piles under two forms-1st, where they exist as little tumours within or just without the bowel, becoming, very soon after their extrusion, more solid and firm; unless, indeed,